Merkel backtracks on open borders.The move follows a backlash to the chancellor’s decision to welcome refugees.

"Big mistake"

“Berlin’s decision is a stunning about-face by Chancellor Angela Merkel.”

“Seehofer called Merkel’s decision to let in more refugees “a mistake that will keep us busy for a long time.”

Vienna has been even more outspoken in its criticizing its eastern neighbors. Over the weekend, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Hungary’s treatment of the refugees recalled the policies of the Nazis. Hungary is erecting a fence to keep refugees from crossing over its border with Serbia and many asylum seekers have accused Hungarian authorities of mistreating them.

Despite such frustrations, Berlin’s decision is a stunning about-face by Chancellor Angela Merkel. In recent weeks, she has appeared to encourage refugees to come to Germany, declaring as recently as Friday that there was “no upper limit” for asylum seekers and encouraging Germans to be flexible in dealing with the influx.

While such declarations have made Merkel the champion of many refugees, her open-door policy has provoked resistance among conservatives in her own coalition. That’s particularly true in Bavaria, which has born the brunt of the crisis. On Saturday alone, about 13,000 refugees arrived at Munich’s main station, pushing the city’s infrastructure for handling the arrivals to the brink.

Horst Seehofer, leader of the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, attacked the chancellor in unusually harsh language in an interview with Der Spiegel published Friday. Seehofer called Merkel’s decision to let in more refugees “a mistake that will keep us busy for a long time.”

Other senior members of the party were more blunt, warning that Germany had “lost control” of the situation.

Berlin’s hasty move to lower barriers at the Austrian border on Sunday would appear to be a tacit acknowledgement by the chancellor that her critics were right.

Merkel has characterized her decision last month to suspend the so-called Dublin rules, which require refugees to apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter, as a humanitarian gesture. The move was meant to allow thousands of Syrian refugees who had already arrived in Germany to remain, while guaranteeing safe passage to scores more stranded in Hungary.

Yet government officials acknowledge privately that they didn’t anticipate the resonance the announcement would have.

Refugees from flashpoints across the Middle East and northern Africa interpreted the decision as a sign that Germany would take all comers, an impression Berlin has tried in vain to dispel.

Berlin insists the Dublin rules are still in effect, but Hungary and other countries on the front lines have largely ignored those pleas.

By MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG

Jules Johnston contributed to this article. 13-9-2015 / POLITICO / http://www.politico.eu/article/merkel-migrant-refugee-crisis-germany-imposes-border-controls/