Merkel's leadership lands her in refugee challenge

Berlin

IF there is anything that German news magazine Der Spiegel relishes, it is a good fight. Its editors have gone to prison for defending press freedom, while debates on the most controversial of subjects regularly fill its pages. However, the magazine on Jan 4 told subscribers that it could no longer include a "forum" section for readers' comments on the European refugee crisis. According to Spiegel Online, the refugee issue had attracted so many "inappropriate, insulting and even libellous comments" that "maintenance of our Netiquette", as it called it, "is no longer possible".

The migration crisis has prompted similar angry and even violent reactions throughout a European Union that only two years ago basked in the glow that only a Nobel Peace Prize can bestow. Today, open borders, liberal asylum policies and a multicultural society appear but a distant memory. Some observers have even questioned whether the Union can survive.