Angela Merkel slammed for claiming Germany’s open border policy wasn’t to blame for surge in terror attacks
The German Chancellor claimed terrorism was a threat long before Syrian migrants poured into Europe
STUBBORN Angela Merkel was panned yesterday after rubbishing claims her disastrous open borders policy was to blame for a surge in terror attacks.
The German premier said Islamist terrorism had long been a threat before a million migrants poured over the country’s frontiers.
The comments – at a party rally ahead of crunch elections – come with the Chancellor’s ratings going through the floor after a spate of killings last month.
At the rally she was asked if terrorism “had come to Germany with the refugees”.
She replied: “The phenomenon of Islamic terrorism is not a phenomenon that has come to us with the refugees but one we already had.”
Yet Germany’s own intelligence agencies admit terrorists may have been among the 1.2 million people who have entered Germany over the past 18 months.
And there have been more than 340 cases of attempted Jihadist recruitment among the migrants that have made it to Germany.
Speaking yesterday, Migration Watch chair Lord Green told the Sun: “Obviously the refugee policy has not caused the IS problem, but it has almost certainly exacerbated it.”
Of four attacks in southern Germany in July, two were carried out by asylum seekers who had pledged support for IS.
A 17 year-old attacked train passengers with an axe, with cops finding an ISIS flag in his bedroom. A Syrian blew himself up in Ansbach - killing 15 – in an attack claimed by IS.
Ms Merkel’s poll ratings plunged after the attacks – dropping 12 percentage points to 47 per cent. This is the second lowest seen in the country since the start of the current Parliament in 2013.
The Chancellor won international praise for her decision a year ago to waive normal immigration rules to allow asylum seekers surging through Europe to settle in Germany.
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Germany is one of several EU member states to reintroduce border checks in a desperate bid to regain control. Horst Seehofer, the PM of Bavaria and head of Ms Merkel’s sister party, has repeatedly called for a cap on immigration.
The fallout from her open borders policy has seen a wave of support for the right-wing anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Ms Merkel conceded a greater security effort was needed – starting with more police. She added: “Through digitalisation, through social media, through the so-called darkweb - we must constantly and continuously adapt to tackle these threats.”