Refugee Chancellor

In late summer 2015, as tens of thousands of refugees were arriving on Europe's shores and trekking north to find a new home, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made two decisions that would come to define her tenure.

Source: Getty Images Europe

The first decision came on August 25, 2015, when Merkel chose to allow Syrian refugees who had already registered elsewhere in the European Union to enter Germany and register there, temporarily suspending an EU law that requires asylum seekers to be returned to the first country they entered.

The following Friday, September 4, Merkel relaxed controls on the border with Austria, allowing tens of thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary to enter Germany.

Ever since, Merkel's so-called open-door refugee policy has both been hailed as the epitome of a liberal, compassionate approach to migration and condemned as the nail in the coffin of the European project.

Now that Merkel has announced the approaching end of her chancellorship, political analyst Dr. Franck Düvell says Germany should than Merkel instead of criticising her.

Flüchtlinge bei der Ankunft in München Source: AAP Images/ EPA/SVEN HOPPE