Was it only a few months ago that The Economist was referring to Angela Merkel as the “indispensable European”?
Indispensable, I wonder, to whom….
A man who attacked a Paris police station last week had lived in a centre for asylum-seekers in Germany, German investigators say, a finding likely to fuel criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal stance towards war refugees.
The individual was shot dead by French police on Thursday after he tried to storm a police station in northern Paris, brandishing a meat cleaver and wearing a fake suicide vest. The assault took place exactly one year since the start of a series of jihadist attacks in France, marked by the killing of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine on January 7 2015.
On Saturday, German investigators assisting the probe into the police-station attack raided an apartment at a shelter for asylum-seekers in Recklinghausen, in the west of the country.
Their statement gave no other details except to say no indications were found that other attacks had been planned.
Meanwhile, (via Reuters) there’s this from Sweden, a country that, until very recently, easily surpassed even Germany in its openness to migrants.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said on Sunday she would welcome the reintroduction of military and civilian conscription, saying it could make a difference in tackling crises like the massive influx of refugees from the Middle East.
“I am among those who welcome a modernised, gender-equal version of conscription, with both military and civilian components,” Wallstrom told a defence conference.
“Imagine if we had civilians in reserve this autumn and they could have been called on to reinforce the immigration agency,” she said in a speech widely quoted in local media, adding conscripts could also help out with natural disasters…
Wallstrom’s enthusiasm for freedom of movement does not, it appears, extend to young Swedes.
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