The European Union | Report

Chapter 1: Introduction
The European Union, among all the other regions of the world, has perhaps the most
complex and statutory systems to restrict undesired migrants. Since 1993, the interstate borders
have become more relaxed, rather non-existent within the Schengen area for trade and travelling,
with passport control being abolished and single monitory union being established. However, the
external frontier of the territory has become protected and militarized. According to the reports
of the Amnesty International, the EU has spent approximately €2bn for surveillance systems,
fences, patrols on both land and sea between 2007 to 2013 (Trilling, 2018). However, the large
number of international migrants increasing since 2009 has compelled the EU to reconsider its
immigration policies.
Ideally, refuges have the right to cross any international border seeking asylum under the
international law. Hence, they should be exempted from any such border controls. However, the
EU has repeatedly tried to turn down such pleas of asylum seekers to an extensive length, closing
down its borders. Following the Arab uprising since 2011, a vast amount of displaced people has
been trying to enter Europe through Turkey, as well as from North Africa and Central
Mediterranean region. Despite the pressing urgency, the EU maintained their concern for internal
security and resisted the reception. Where more than 3 million people claimed asylum in the EU
countries since 2015, armed with the Dublin regulation, the EU refused to open its borders to the
refugees. The wave of refugees still continued to hit the EU borders in a chaotic and
disorganized manner in an attempt to reach the countries of north-eastern Europe, and led to the
death of thousands of refugees. Subsequently, the Dublin Regulation almost collapsed.

This was not the first time that the EU was facing such dire refugee crisis. Following the
aftermath of the World War II, the European countries involved in the conflict experienced mass
evacuation, expulsion and forced displacement of millions of people. However, the number of
refugees to a single region has not been this magnanimous until the 2015 crisis. According to the
UNHCR report on mass migration, the contemporary history is the witness of the largest forced
displacement, with an unprecedented 70.8 million people across the globe. The UNHCR reports
that one person in every 2 seconds is forcefully displaced as a result of persecution, ethnic,
political or religious conflicts. Among them, 341800 people are political asylum seekers, of
which 30 million are reported to be under 18 years of age (Un.org, 2019).
In the light of this importance pertaining to the refugee issue, the matter has drawn
attention of various experts, including world leaders, policy makers, human rights activists as
well as politicians. Subsequently, the matter of hosting these refugees and providing asylum to
them have become a pressing issue, as a matter of human rights that these people are entitled to.
However, offering resettlement and asylum to them has not been an easy task, for it involves
significant political, economic, legal as well as social aspects of the hosting country. As a clear
example of the claim, EU has faced the severity of the refugee crisis subsequent to the Cold War,
continuing till date. Although, several international laws and policies prescribe different
rehabilitative measures and protection of the fundamental rights of those refugees, many EU
countries have denied to offer asylum mentioning the aforementioned hassles. Overall, the
European response to the crisis have been somewhat of a mixed nature. While some of the
countries completely closed their borders for the asylum seekers, Germany has welcome and
taken the responsibility of a significant amount of refugees.

Among all the EU countries, Germany has taken up more than their fair share of
responsibility regarding the refugees and asylum seekers. The crisis hit Germany following the
civil unrest in Syria around 2015, as hundreds and thousands of Syrian refugees fled to the
European countries for shelter and safety. And Germany held its door open amidst numerous
objections, warnings, even non-cooperation from their EU allies. Subsequently, the country has
implemented rehabilitative frameworks and policies including the aspects of healthcare,
employment and education for the refugees. However, the consequence of this inclusion in the
German population has received a mix response as well. Some say that it has enriched the
German labor market and as a result, boosted the economy. On the other hand, opponents claim
that it took a toll on the German nationalism, the widespread ideology that promotes the unity
and solidarity of native German speakers into making Germany a sovereign nation-state. It is
also propagated through various key political and electoral media that the inclusion of the
refugees into the German population has curbed social and economic opportunity for the native
German citizens, thus turning the national sentiment against the refugees. Nevertheless, it has to
be acknowledged that the inclusion of a substantive amount of German population has its deep
rooted impact on various aspects pertaining to Germany, including economy, society as well as
German national politics.
The most significant observation related to the inclusion claim that the Syrian refugee
crisis has led to the proliferation and strengthening of far right populism in Germany. The
rationale underlying the claim indicates to the xenophobia and insecurity in the German national
sentiment that have provided the grounds to the far right populist party, Alternative for Germany
(AfD) to rise and find support among the common people.

Although the populist claim may sound tenable, scholars also argue that the rise of right
wing populism in Germany is not a result of collective xenophobia and insecurity alone, rather it
follows the global geopolitical trend, where right wing extremism and populism are proliferating
and becoming popular at rapid rate. Therefore, it is only fair to evaluate the impact of the 2015
Syrian refugee crisis on Germany, and determine whether the changes in German economy,
social system and culture have contributed to the change in the German political scenario, giving
rise to the far right populism.
1.1 Background
Syrian refugees were not the only displaced population that have taken Asylum in
Germany. Since 2015, Germany has been the primary target destination for political refugees
from Iraq, Afghanistan, Western Balcans and some of the other Middle East countries. Since
2015, a staggering amount of 476,649 application for sanctuary have been lodged to Germany. In
a more concerning scrutiny of the issue points that almost 50% of the applicants are eligible for
asylum under the Geneva Convention and subsidiary protection, given the refugee status of the
applicants (UN.org, 2019).
In this regard, the terms ‘refugee’, ‘immigrants’ and ‘asylum seekers’ are to be
understood to consider the protection and rights of the applicants. The term ‘migrants’ usually
denotes a group of people who move to one place from another, mainly in order to find better
economic or living conditions. The UN Migration Agency (The International Organization for
Migration) defines migrants as any person who has moved within a State territory or across
international borders from his usual place of residence. Moreover, the definition suggest that this
movement has to be considered regardless of the length of stay, the person’s legal and social
status, the causes of the movement or whether the movement was involuntary or voluntary.

However, migrants and immigrants are distinguished on the basis of the location of their
movement. To elucidate, the migrants may or may not move to foreign countries, whereas
immigrants necessarily move across international borders. The European Commission uses the
term ‘immigrants’ to refer to a person who belongs to a Non-EU country and has established his
or her residence in the geographical territory of an EU country, where their length of residence
is, or is expected to be, not less than 12 months (UNHCR.org, 2020).
In contrast to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers involuntarily move to foreign
territories. More specifically, they are forcefully displaced from their original residences as they
are at risk of lives owing to natural calamity, economic crisis or are vulnerable to political, racial,
ethnic or religious persecution. In this sense, the primary concerns for refugees are safety and
human rights, more than economic opportunity. On the other hand, asylum seekers are the people
who claim themselves to be refugees. However, there claims are yet to be evaluated and
accepted. As soon as an asylum seeker’s application to provide him/her safety and residence on
the grounds of persecution is granted by the respective country, they are treated as refugees.
As of 2019, the figure of displaced population has reached an all-time high since it was
first published in 1989. The UNHCR reports, 59.5 million people worldwide are escaping their
origin countries due to the fear of violence, religious and political persecution, ethnic cleansing
and human rights violation. The surge of the amount of refugees is especially considered as a
result of the Syrian civil war ongoing since 2011. The Syrian refugees, along with forcefully
displaced migrants from Afghanistan and Iraq, are received by the countries such as Jordan,
Turkey and Lebanon. However, refugees are faced with severe lack of prospect and forced to
lead an extremely difficult life. Hence, they tend to further move out to the European countries,
such as Greece, Italy, and most significantly, Germany (UNHCR.org.)

Among All the EU countries, Germany was the most effective nation to facilitate asylum
to the refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Balkan states, ratifying the right of
asylum under the German constitution. It is often held that the accommodating immigration law
of Germany is the most instrumental factor that allowed the country to take in the most number
of refugees. The German Residence Act was the chief instrumental act that reviews and regulates
the refugee status of the applicants. In accordance with the Section 16a (1) GG in the German
Basic Law, people facing infringements of rights relating to human dignity and personal rights
due to significant otherness of their political or religious convictions are considered eligible for
protection. However, not all of these political asylum seekers were given refugee status until the
amendment of German constitution following the Qualification Directive (2011/95/EU) in 2007.
Currently, Germany provides official refugee status, at the same time of conferring the
entitlement to political asylum when seem necessary ratifying Section 3 (1) and (4) Asylum
Procedure Act. However, some consider the Merkel Government’s Open Door Policy as the
chief responsible factor for the influx of refugees. It should be noted that the first response to the
asylum applications were taken subsequently to the Hungarian refugee crisis. Further, the sheer
lack of prospects in terms of security, shelter, food, healthcare, education and occupation in the
affected countries, as well as the primary host countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon,
also contribute to the refugee influx in the developed economy of Germany.
1.2 Objective
The detailed discussion of the refugee crisis is hoped to shed some light on the
nature and extent of the crisis, along with the possible reasons for making Germany the
preferable destination to seek asylum in. Whatever the reason is, the staggering influx has to
have some significant impacts on the existing native German population. In purview of the

global phenomenon of refugee crisis, the present research, therefore, seeks to explore the Impact
of Syrian refugee crisis on the German politics. To this end, the present research will attempt to
find answers to the following research questions:
i) Has the Syrian refugee crisis any effect on the national policy making and election
campaign in Germany?
ii) Is the inclusion of Syrian refugees in the German population responsible for the rise
of the far-right populist party AfD?