Ten years have passed through Angela Merkel’s historical phrase “we will do it”. The report is partly positive, but at enormous political costs. DW Analysis. “We have to work more,” says Chancellor Mertz today. “We will do it,” Angela Merkel said ten years ago. When a politician changes the page, especially when he is predicting voters for seasons of cows, the announcements should be brief, comprehensible and contain the concept of “we”. “We all will do it” was Angela Merkel’s clear message.

7 in 10 have found a job

Was the expectations of 2015 verified? To a large extent yes, experts say. Seven out of ten of the refugees who came to Germany for the last ten years have found a job. In 2020 the corresponding figures showed that only 5 out of 10 were assimilated into the labor market. Since 2015, registered unemployment among asylum seekers has decreased by at least 50%.

This report is positive for Germany, not only for humanitarian, but also for purely economic reasons. Because at least 20 million people are expected to retire by 2036 and so far there are not enough to make up for them, ensuring the viability of the insurance and pension system. (This is still the case, even if we take into account all the new ones).

Impulse to AfD

On the other hand: While Germany has managed to assimilate many of those who are entitled to asylum, it has not been able to repatriate only those who are not entitled to it. In addition, at the political level the message “we will do it” was undermined from the outset within the government coalition, especially by the Bavarian Christian Socialists (CSU). The public debate was not limited to the technocratic aspects of the case, but very soon expanded to identity and diversity.

All of this gave new impetus to Xenophobic “Alternative for Germany” (AfD). And at a time when this party was going through a serious crisis, which culminated in 2017 with the resignation of President Grauke Petri. Today AFD is an official opposition and aspires to become a government in the 2029 elections.

So we did it in some way, but not as well as we hoped in 2015. And so, ten years later, it was time for the next clear message: “We have to work longer.”