Why Germany won't revise migration policy

Over the last week Germany has been shocked by four tragic incidents that forced experts to talk about the need to change migration policy.

Recall that a 17-year-old Afghan man with an axe attacked people on a train, a migrant with a machete killed a woman in Reutlingen, another migrant carried out an attack in Ansbach, as a result of which one person died. In Munich an Iranian man with German citizenship shot ten people in the "Olympia" mall and then committed suicide.

However, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, the country will not revise its migration policy and will continue to stick to its principles, providing shelter to everyone who deserves it. Merkel admitted that Germany will have to find a better method of identifying potential terrorists among the refugees who have arrived in the country: "The federal government will redouble its efforts in the fight against the terrorist threat, the number of employees of the relevant services will be increased and new resources will be used for the needs of the security services."

Meanwhile, according to political scientist Alexander Rahr, the political establishment that is in power in Germany today won't be able to change its liberal legislation: "Otherwise, the careers of most of them will end. They built Germany on a liberal model, a liberal idea, ideology, and they have no alternative to liberal legislation."

However, according to Rahr the German authorities will begin to strengthen the law-enforcement structures: "They will hire new people to the intelligence services, they will intensify the wiretapping of 'Islamists'. I often visit Belgium, I can see that there are not just policemen at every corner, but fully armed men."

Politicians, he predicts, will fight on two fronts: "One of them will be against those 'Islamists' hiding in Germany. The other will be against the strengthening of right-wing parties in Germany, which have begun to gain points thanks to this atmosphere. The right-wing party 'Alternative for Germany' may become the third biggest party at the local elections in Berlin on September 18. Federal elections will be held in a year, and it could easily gain third place. The policy and rhetoric of the ruling class will be directed against the strengthening of these parties."