Final Word from Monday, September 11, 2023
Ex-German Interior Min. Horst Seehofer said in Der Spiegel on Sat. that he stands by his statement from 2018 that, "Migration is the mother of all problems." We need to look at migration today from the standpoint of what Germany can handle, he said. "Far more than half the people who came then [during that wave] didn't end up in the labor market, with all the integration problems that this entails in terms of housing, education and security." Those who speak about this aren't being right-wing extremists, he said, but are arguing for good policy. "Illegal immigration," he concluded, "is overwhelming our country." As Bavarian PM, he was seen by some Czech politicians as an ally against Angela Merkel's migration policy of "Wir schaffen das." However, Czech Radio's foreign editor, Filip Nerad, said last week that Merkel was ultimately right and that Germany did indeed cope with the crisis. It integrated 1m people, he said. This is the role of Czech public media and one reason its supporters want it to receive more funding. When the time comes, it will tell Czechs fearing a new migration wave, Wir schaffen das auch. [ Czech Republic CSU CDU Bavaria policy ]
Glossary of difficult words
correction: "It integrated 1m people" (not 10m);
Wir schaffen das (auch) - we can do it (too); we'll manage it (too);
the mother of all... - something regarded as the biggest, most impressive or most important of its kind; an extreme example or very large specimen of something;
to cope with - to deal effectively with something difficult.