Posted on September 22, 2017

Angela Merkel Embroiled in Refugee Scandal in Huge Blow Days Before German Election

Allan Hall, Express, September 22, 2017

Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel (Credit Image: © Imago via ZUMA Press)

A leaked internal German government report appears to condemn Chancellor Angel Merkel for opening the country’s borders to refugees without first gaining parliamentary approval.

The admonishment comes two days before she seeks a fourth term in power in Sunday’s general election – with 20 percent of voters still undecided who they will support.

The report by the Bundestag Scientific Office – a team of non party political legal experts – stated it is the role of the Bundestag to decide on all “matters of essential relevance to the state”.

Experts said the opaque diplomatic language used in it signals parliament should have had the final say on the matter “as the decision led to a change in the proportion of non-Germans to Germans in the country”.

Influential news magazine Der Spiegel said: “Bundestag lawyers clearly see an unclear legal situation for the border opening.

“This is an explosive opinion on the refugee crisis shortly before the election.”

The story was broken by the Die Welt newspaper.

Merkel opened up the borders in September 2015 after discussing the issue with her cabinet. Since then she has lost thousands of party members to the hard right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and witnessed bogus asylum seekers carry out terror attacks.

To this day she has never explained the legal basis for arriving at the decision which will see the AfD become the main opposition party in a new parliament even though she is still expected to win.

The internal report says German law states that refugees do not have a right to apply for asylum in Germany if they entered the it through another signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

They said, according to German law, asylum seekers should have been turned away at the Austrian border.

The AfD and the pro-business FDP liberals parties want to establish a commission to look into the Chancellor’s border policies in the next parliament.

Die Linke – the Left Party – also slammed the democratic deficit in the decision making which led to the refugee influx.

“It was right to help those people,” said MP Sevim Dagdelen told Die Welt.

“Unfortunately she never brought the Bundestag or neighbouring countries into the decision- making process.”