“We can do it”

Angela Merkel’s slogan makes headlines

Crises across the world, including a civil war in Syria, led to a marked increase in the number of refugees travelling to Europe in 2015. Feeling overwhelmed, a number of southern European countries opened their borders and allowed them passage to the more prosperous western European nations. Whilst the majority of western European countries were reluctant to accept any more asylum seekers, the German government was willing to help. Many in society welcomed the new arrivals, and the newspaper Die Bild launched a campaign encouraging greater support for refugees. However, the attitude of many Germans ranged from sceptical to mistrustful; some were even hostile.

With the slogan “Refugees Welcome” indicating Germany’s willingness to rise to this challenge, Chancellor Angela Merkel summed up official policy at a press conference on 31 August. When asked about the difficulty of taking in and integrating a large number of migrants she replied, “We can do it!” She went on to characterize Germany as a strong country that had already responded to a number of difficult situations; it would rise to this one as well. Merkel repeated the phrase several times at later points. Soon, however, many people’s attitudes began to change: instead of welcoming the arrivals, a wider debate on asylum and refugee policy began after a number of attacks with an Islamist motivation. After the ruling CDU began to lose votes in regional elections, the Chancellor also began to express herself more cautiously.