On August 31st 2015, with a growing number of asylum-seekers reaching Germany, Angela Merkel
declared:" Wirschaffen das" (roughly, "We can handle this"). A few days later the chancellor opened
the borders to migrants stranded in Budapest, amplifying the wave: perhaps 1.2m reached Germany
before Balkan border closures and a deal with Turkey in 2016 stemmed the flow. Initially Germany
handled the migrants well. Yet five years on, its experience of integrating them has been mixed.
Start with jobs. In 2015 an influx of mainly young migrants looked a neat fit for German firms
facing an ageing labour force. Rules were eased for asylum-seekers looking for jobs, and the
government pushed 1.1m through integration and language courses.
The headline figure conceals some awkward details. Barely half the refugees in Germany's labour
force today work in skilled jobs, although over 80% did in their home countries.
Like many European countries Germany has struggled to deport failed asylum-seekers. More than
200,000 people have been granted Duldung(tolerated)status, meaning they have no right to be in
the country but do not face immediate deportation. Perhaps a further 50,000 have no legal status.
A poll last year found a majority of Germans thought the country should accept no more refugees.
These days the borders are quieter and the issue has gone off the boil, but fresh waves of migrants
from Europe's troubled neighborhood can hardly be ruled out." Mama "Merkel, as she is known to many
refugees, long ago abandoned her "Wir schaffen das" mantra for a more paradoxical claim: that her
decision to leave the borders open was correct, and must never be repeated.