So this is how it ends – less with a bang than with a coolly pragmatic admission of defeat. It was a very Germanic action, calm and orderly. But make no mistake: this is seismic.
As casually as if it were announcing extra bin collections, the German government has said that it is preparing to impose tight new controls at all its land borders. From next Monday, German police will begin checking passports at all crossing points and refusing entry to some travellers.
Hammered by illegal immigration and facing social meltdown, one of the main motors of the EU project has effectively been forced to abandon a fundamental tenet of bloc membership: free movement of people. And just like that – as if there’s nothing at all to see here, volks! – the Brussels dream dies.
Of course, chancellor Olaf Scholz won’t want to talk about the profound implications of his government’s desperate decision for the future of the EU. The announcement by interior minister Nancy Faeser was firmly focused on the domestic problems plaguing the country.
But the drastic steps that are about to be taken to protect Germany from a human tsunami mark a watershed for Europe. This is the moment that the politicians most dedicated to “ever closer union” were forced to accept the painful truth: that doing away with national borders in an age of global migration is a recipe for disaster.
That Germany is the place where the citadel has fallen is no surprise. Here in Britain, we may think we have it bad, but none of our governments have been quite as reckless as Berlin.
Back in 2015, the then-chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country’s doors to more than a million asylum seekers, blithely declaring that Germany was strong enough to cope. When Russia invaded Ukraine, they took in another million refugees.
Since then the flow of migrants from all over the world has failed to cease. Now the third largest refugee-hosting country in the world, Germany is in crisis, with a flatlining economy, soaring crime, and voters in open revolt. No wonder the far-Right are on the march.
While our own government continues to dismantle barriers to illegal immigration and flirt with new “youth mobility schemes” with the EU, the biggest economy in Europe is heading in the opposite direction.
In truth, Schengen – the agreement that allows more than 400 million people to travel freely between EU member states – has been quietly disintegrating for some time.
Faced with an impossible number of migrants, governments have quietly been taking advantage of a provision in EU law allowing member states to re-introduce border controls for limited periods. So far this year, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, France, Denmark and Sweden have all gone down this route.
The “Schengen Borders Code” is crystal clear about the circumstances under which the opt-out can be used, stipulating that barriers can only be reinstated if member states face a “serious threat to public order or internal security”. Time and again, it emphasises that such measures are only warranted in what it describes as “truly exceptional” situations and must be considered a “last resort.” According to Brussels diktat, the scope and duration of any reintroduction of border controls “must be kept to the absolute minimum” required to address a “specific threat”.
In reality, what was originally designed as an emergency opt out is fast becoming a permanent necessity for certain member states, as a tidal wave of migrants puts intolerable strain on public services and social cohesion. How long before Brussels drops the pretence that these are only temporary measures? A number of countries – including Germany – are already using the provision several times a year.
The great irony is that the one European government that has yet to do anything more than talk tough on illegal immigration is Great Britain.
Here we are, post-Brexit, voluntarily exercising far less control of our borders than we did in 2016, when 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU. If Germany can take back control of its land borders with nine neighbouring countries, surely we can at the very least stop the boats?
Announcing her open doors policy back in 2015, Merkel famously declared: “Wir Schaffen das”: we’ll manage. Well, they demonstrably haven’t – and neither have we.