Merkel Seeks Macron's Help as Asylum Crisis Threatens EU Unity

Photographer: Louisa Gouliamaki

AFP via Getty Images

 By
Brian Parkin
‎June‎ ‎16‎, ‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎14‎ ‎AM‎ ‎EDT


European remedy needed to solve European challenge, she says

French-German meeting June 19 will seek policy options

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will turn to France to help diffuse a domestic crisis over migration amid an increasing risk that the European Union may unravel unless its member states adopt a common policy.

At a regular meeting of their joint Cabinets on Tuesday, Germany will seek the support of French President Emmanuel Macron to find a common EU response for managing an influx of refugees, Merkel said Saturday in a weekly podcast. The stakes for the EU are high, she said.

A dispute in Merkel’s coalition over migration policy has escalated into one of the biggest tests of her chancellorship, while the populist government that took over in Italy this month has blocked refugee vessels from entering Italian ports.

Getting all of the EU states on board for an overhaul of asylum practices and rules is “in my view one of the most decisive issues for European unity,” the Christian Democrat chancellor said. The inflow of migrants is “a European challenge that requires a European answer.”

Read more: Merkel Risks Crisis in Refugee Clash With Allies

As the domestic storm unfolded this week, Merkel remained insistent that the EU-28 can only solve migration challenges as a group. That’s fomented a deep rift between her CDU and its Christian Social Union allies, who claim they have national and EU authorization to start turning away refugees arriving on Germany’s borders who first claimed asylum in other EU states.

A European solution “doesn’t convince me,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Soeder in a June 14 Bild Zeitung interview. The move would mean “the majority of asylum seekers who come to Europe make their way to Germany.”

The joint cabinet meeting with France offers Merkel a chance to air proposals for revamping regional asylum policy ahead of a European Council meeting June 28-29. Merkel has asked the CSU to be patient, a request that the Bavarians have ignored.

Merkel decries US pullout from Iran deal, gets peace prize

By frances d'emilio and patricia thomas, associated press ASSISI, Italy — May 12, 2018, 11:33 AM ET

The Associated Press

German Chancellor Angela Merkel listens to a welcome speech duringa ceremony inside Assisi's Basilica, Italy, Saturday, May 12, 2018. Merkel and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos arrived in Assisi to receive the Lamp of Peace award.

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)more +



German Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull his country out of the Iran nuclear accord was making the situation in the Middle East "even more difficult" and warned Europeans to be skeptical of "easy" solutions promised by populists.

Speaking while in Italy to receive a peace prize, Merkel cited the recent escalation of Israeli-Iranian hostility that quickly followed Trump's announcement about the Iran accord as a reason for concern.

She said Germany was closely following the developments between Iran and Israel, saying that was "yet another reason for further effort to resolve the conflict."

The German leader made her remarks at St. Francis' Basilica, in Assisi, the saint's hometown, where Franciscan friars awarded her the St. Francis Lamp for peace. Merkel was honored for the welcome Germany gave to Syrian war refugees, a decision that carried political risks for the chancellor and her party.

Merkel and Trump shake hands as he enters the G20 summit - Daily Mail

Protect Muslims; suppress Islamists

21. February 2017 /

Religious freedom expert for Merkels party speaks in Solingen for the third time

(Bonn, 21.02.2017) “The secular state must equally guarantee freedom of religion for freedom loving Muslims and use its monopoly on the use of force to suppress those Islamists who are enemies of freedom of religion.” This was the main thesis presented by the Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom on the occasion of the “Castle Burger Discussions” held by Germany’s Mrs Merkel’s political party the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Solingen.



(from the left) Thomas Schirrmacher and Hansjörg Schweikhart © BQ / Martin Warnecke



Religious freedom is never achieved half-heartedly, claimed Professor Schirrmacher, who teaches sociology of religion at the University of the West in Romania. One simply must protect Muslims from whoever would threaten their freedom of religion—as well, of course as protecting oriental Christians and converts from Islam to Christianity—especially from those Muslims who are called Islamists, whose goal is the abolition of religious freedom or who would justify or even use violence.

Freedom of religion, as is true with all human rights, must not only be made legally possible; fundamental rights must be actively defended by means of the monopoly of force of the state against all those who justify, propagate, or practice abuses of those rights.



Thomas Schirrmacher during his lecture © BQ / Martin Warnecke

The theme of the evening was “Christian Persecution in the Middle East as a Reflection of the Situation of Religious Freedom Worldwide.” Schirrmacher, who is also chair of the advisory committee for the Central Council of Oriental Christians in Germany (Zentralrat Orientalischer Christen in Deutschland, ZOCD), reminded the audience of the genocide of Christians that is going up and down since 1915. Whoever sees the current situation in Syria and Iraq as a new or short term problem is historically forgetful. For oriental Christians the Middle East has never truly become a place of peace since the mass murder of millions of their fellow believers a century ago. Today’s genocide is only a new appearance of a terrible tragedy and evil tradition, with a series of starts and stops, which has been going on for at least a century.


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Are Theresa May and Angela Merkel in the ILLUMINATI?

Conspiracy theorists are convinced the leaders are in secretive sect because of similar hand gestures

By Patrick Lion For Mailonline

12:12 EST 23 Jul 2016, updated 16:37 EST 23 Jul 2016

Theresa May dragged into conspiracy theory about a 'secret EU society'
The 'secret sign' is a hand signal used by German leader Angela Merkel
Jean-Claude Juncker also used the sign meeting Belgian royalty this week

Prime Minister Theresa May has found herself in the middle of a bizarre internet conspiracy theory involving claims of a secret EU Illuminati society.

Mrs May used the hand signal - already frequently used by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker - on July 11 when speaking at Westminster before her elevation to 10 Downing Street.

The hand signal is listed on the illuminati hand signs conspiracy theory website illuminatiRex and described as a 'Merkel-Raute'.

Prime Minister Theresa May used the hang signal after Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the Tory leadership contest outside the Houses of Parliament on July 11

The 'Merkel-Raute' is a reverse variation of the first illuminati 'Roc Sign' - roughly in the shape of a diamond or pyramid - used by celebrities such as actors, Denzel Washington, Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise

Users of the 'Merkel-Raute', as it has become known due to the German's frequent use, have also included other European historical figures including Pope John Paul II and Adolf Hitler.

'The pyramid is an important Illuminati symbol showing their few ruling the many on the bottom type power structure,' the illuminatiRex website states.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel used the signal in Hamburg on February 12 when meeting with David Cameron when he was prime minister

'The symbol becomes more powerful when the sign is done over an eye, representing the All-Seeing eye in a capstone floating over an unfinished pyramid.'

'The pyramid sign is seen by many researchers to be THE sign of the Illuminati.'

Mr Juncker was captured using the 'Merkel-Raute' signal this week when he met Belgium royalty on Friday.

But he had also used it on July 7 in Strasbourg, France.

German politician Memet Kilic had noticed the similarities between Mrs May and Mrs Merkel, describing the new PM as a 'competitor' in hand gestures against the German.


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