Britain’s lax immigration policy is making it an outlier

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has this week put out an official statement that could fairly be described as ‘Wir schaffen das nicht’ – ‘we can’t do it’. Its official title is the rather drier – ‘Work on designing innovative ways to counter illegal migration’ – but you get the drift.

It was back in autumn 2015 that Angela Merkel launched a policy towards undocumented migrants that had huge implications for the entire continent.

‘Wir schaffen das!’ – ‘we can do it’ – she declared, in response to the huge flow of irregular (thus also illegal) migrants heading into the EU, mainly from Syria and surrounding countries. However many people came in to seek refuge in Germany – and therefore, ultimately in its Schengen Area neighbours too – the country would welcome them and cope. Nine years down the line, we have a very different declaration.

At the start of her second term running the Commission, von der Leyen has told her immigration commissioner to ‘steer reflections on operational solutions that will help to counter illegal migration and address the proposals many membersStates have made in this area’.