: Refugee crisis in Europe has led to the possibility of the evolution of a nation with large diversity, said Achim Fabig, the Consul General of Germany at a talk he addressed at University of Hyderabad on Tuesday. He was speaking on the effects of the European refugee influx on Germany’s polity.
In 2015, about 11 lakh refugees entered Germany against an average of 1 lakh who entered during the five-year period from 2000 to 2005. From 2005 to 2010 just 50,000 refugees had entered Germany. “This had led to concerns about their integration into German society. But after an initial dip, approval ratings of Chancellor Angela Merkel have improved,” he said. Germany continues to be Europe’s economic powerhouse and the country’s unemployment rate too is low, he added.
Striking a positive note about migration, the Consul General said migration could mitigate the dearth of workers in the country that is estimated to face a domestic workforce shortfall in the coming years. “Even in the foreign services, there is a fair representation of people from diverse ethnic and national backgrounds who had migrated to Germany,” Mr. Fabig said.
Revealing that his mother herself was a migrant from erstwhile Czechoslovakia, Achim Fabig remarked that the modern Germany has been non intrusive in the internal affairs of other countries. “That could be a reason for Germany to become a magnet for migrants,” he added.
The country’s economy is looking up due to the presence of a number of small and medium manufacturing enterprises. “Slowdown in the software sector on account of robotisation and use of artificial intelligence many not affect Germany much because of the presence of these industries,” he clarified. Germany is also not likely to see a rise of the right wing as their approval ratings is just 10 per cent among people, he said.
