Nearly three-quarters of Germans are concerned that their country could not cope with another wave of illegal migrants from the Middle East amid the ongoing conflict in Iran.
A survey from Forsa found that 73 per cent of people in Germany are concerned about the ability of their country to take in more migrants from Iran, with the country already playing host to the largest number of Iranians in Europe, with the diaspora in the country standing at around 319,000 people, broadcaster NTV reported.
According to the poll, around 80 per cent of supporters of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) coalition expressed concern over more migrants straining the system.
Such concerns jumped to 98 per cent among voters who back the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Even a strong majority of left-wing Social Democrat voters expressed concern at more migrants entering the country, at 63 per cent.
Conversely, only far-left Green Party supporters were listed as having a majority who were not worried about the arrival of more migrants from Iran.
Germany is still reeling following the previous Europe Migrant Crisis, sparked by a combination of the civil war in Syria and the unprecedented decision by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to unilaterally open the borders of Europe to migrants fleeing from the Middle East and Africa in 2015.
In the year that followed, around one million migrants flooded into Germany, alone, putting severe strain on public services and radically transforming the society, with now around one in five people living in the country being foreign-born, or over 16 million people.
Amid increased concerns over the prospect of another migrant crisis, there appears to be a shifting stance in Europe on mass migration, deportations, and the so-called “firewalls” imposed by supposed centre-right parties from working with populist anti-mass migration parties.
Indeed, the Berlin and European establishments were rocked this month as members of the centre-right CDU/CSU from Germany broke the “cordon sanitaire” surrounding the AfD to vote alongside the party in the European Parliament to pass through new immigration restrictions and to lay the groundwork for revamped deportation efforts, likely including offshore removal hubs.
Together, members of the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), including the AfD, voted with its fellow populist groups, including the Patriots of Europe and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), as well as the centrist establishment European People’s Party, to pass the migration restrictions. With the firewall broken, the measures easily passed by a margin of 389 votes to 206 against.
AfD MEP Mary Khan said of the vote: “This clearly shows: There are stable majorities for a genuine migration turnaround in Europe, and they withstand the media pressure. We from the AfD are sticking to what we have been demanding since 2015! Today demonstrates what we can achieve for our continent when the cordon sanitaire no longer plays a role.”
The political establishment in Brussels also appears to be concerned over the potential for more migratory flows, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen writing to the heads of member states earlier this month to call for the “full mobilisation of all migration diplomacy tools at our disposal.”
Von der Leyen also warned of other migrant hot spots breaking out into crises, including Libya, which is reportedly housing some one million migrants, many of whom will undoubtedly attempt to reach Europe.
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