‘Paris changes everything’: Merkel’s allies call for German refugee policy changes

Borders have been closed, advantages cut, warnings issued in Arabic to remain away.

The news that one of the assailants in the Paris attacks may have crossed into Europe with migrants fleeing Syria is raising the debate over Europe’s immigration policy to a new pitch.

Poland moved first to shut the door. The interior ministry was “intensively investigating together with the French authorities whether there is a connection with the events in Paris”. Rutte says “violence and extremism will never triumph over freedom and humanity”. Migrants and refugees switched to Slovenia as a gateway to Western Europe after Hungary sealed off its border with Croatia. Merkel’s gesture – hugely popular in Germany at the time – immediately encouraged thousands more people to make the risky trip across the Mediterranean.

The two nations set up the Australian German Advisory Group previous year to explore ways to strengthen bonds, with the Australian members including Ms Turnbull, Senator Cormann, Mr Coleman, Mr Chaney, Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt and foreign policy expert Peter Jennings from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The only agreement, after summit meetings and other talks, was a plan to distribute 160,000 refugees among all the member states.

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Szymanski has been nominated as a minister in Poland’s new conservative government to be sworn in on Monday. “In view of the tragic events in Paris, we do not see the political possibility of executing this policy”.

Basal, the teacher, said he would have attended a weekend vigil in Berlin for the Paris attack victims if he had heard about it in advance. At least one has already been identified as a French national, known to the police.

A former senior intelligence official, who is still well-briefed, said: “This is becoming a strategy for them: to embed among the migrants”. Hundreds of thousands came.

Islamic State on Saturday claimed responsibility for the coordinated assault by gunmen and bombers that killed 127 people in Paris. The smaller countries of Eastern Europe are being overwhelmed with newcomers that must be fed, clothed, and housed – even if many of them are moving on to northern European countries.

Countries bordering France, including Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, announced restrictions on traffic and advised their citizens against visiting Paris. “We weep with you”, the chancellor’s message said.

The boy died at sea when the inflatable boat carrying 15 migrants and an operator smashed on rocks off the coast of the island of Chios, the Greek coast guard says. “If this is not declaring war on Europe, then what is?” he asked. “The throat cutters and Islamic terrorists should be ELIMINATED with force!”

“The days of unchecked immigration and illegal entry can’t continue just like that”, Söder said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“I think it might be that her position will be strengthened”, he said. “Without borders, neither security nor protection are possible”.

The stance was echoed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. But he declined to heed Wilders’ call for a total shutdown of Dutch borders.

Bavarian finance minister Markus Söder said the attacks showed it had been a “mistake” for Chancellor Angela Merkel to open Germany’s borders temporarily to refugees. “We know that our free life is stronger than terror”. “Let us answer the terrorists by living our values with courage”.

A Merkel spokesperson said she would meet the Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann in Berlin to discuss the migration crisis next week.

In another incident two Afghan men said police had shot at their group, wounding two, while another Afghan man alleged he was pistol-whipped by Bulgaria’s police. Germany expects to take in one million refugees by the end of 2015.

Merkel also insists that she is making headway on a variety of measures, including enlisting Turkey to tighten its sea border with Greece and distributing refugees around Europe.

Those words resonated with Ahmad Saadi Mahayni, a 39-year-old businessman from Damascus who is now employed as a social worker at a refugee center in Berlin after obtaining asylum and residency in Germany.