Merkel
cannot afford to see another Cologne
The
sex attacks in Germany raise sensitive questions on integration
January
8, 2016
Angela Merkel’s
decision to allow more than 1m migrants from the Middle East and
north Africa to take refuge in Germany has generated deep divisions
in her country. Few events have sharpened the debate more acutely
than the shocking mass sex attack on women in the city of Cologne on
New Year’s eve.
Although the police
investigation into the assault is continuing, it is clear that scores
of young women in the city were groped and robbed by gangs of men
described by the authorities as having a “north African or Arab”
appearance. Evidence emerged yesterday that newly arrived asylum
seekers were among the hundreds of young men present when the
assaults took place. The populist anti-immigration party Alternative
für Deutschland has blamed the outrage on the German chancellor’s
“catastrophic asylum and immigration policy”.
The attacks in
Cologne seem to have occurred for a variety of reasons. Some blame
must lie with the city police, whose chief stepped down yesterday.
For years, the local force has allowed thieving gangs to prey around
the railway station where the attacks happened. The police trades
union says there were too few officers at the scene on December 31,
given how many people were expected on the streets.
Other aspects of
these crimes cannot be ignored, however. The fact that the
overwhelming majority of the assailants were of African and Middle
Eastern origin has raised fears about whether young immigrant men are
well enough integrated into German society. The huge flow of asylum
seekers into the country, which shows no sign of abating in 2016,
makes this matter all the more pressing.
Ms Merkel has long
expressed concern about the lack of community integration in Germany.
She has criticised multiculturalism — the notion that people can
live in parallel communities with little or no regard for one another
— as a “sham”. Immigrants should never be forced to give up
their linguistic, religious and cultural roots. But she is right to
insist that all minorities must respect Germany’s basic values, its
democratic and human rights and its commitment to religious and
sexual equality.
In Germany, as
elsewhere in Europe, fostering such integration will require immense
patience and resources. Whatever the difficulties, there can be no
compromise when crimes are committed by gangs of any race or
religion, Muslim or otherwise. Britain has recently witnessed a
number of incidents in which city authorities refrained for a while
from denouncing child abuse by male gangs of Pakistani heritage for
fear of inflaming racial prejudice. In the case of Cologne, there
appears to have been a similar failure. The German police and
national media were too slow to publicise the attacks, anxious
perhaps not to fuel sentiment against foreigners.
The events in
Cologne will inevitably throw a fresh spotlight on the generous
stance that Ms Merkel has taken over the refugee crisis. Her approach
is courageous and admirable. As the world looks on with horror this
weekend at the images of people starving in the Syrian town of
Madaya, overblown criticism of a great European nation as it embraces
people fleeing conflict is misplaced.
The German
government cannot be complacent, however, as it manages the immense
movement of migrants on to its territory. Ms Merkel’s open door
policy will only work if it is accompanied by a concentrated effort
at integration which preserves her nation’s postwar values. Germany
— and its chancellor — cannot tolerate another Cologne.
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