Merkel’s woeful legacy

How ironic but unsurprising that Angela Merkel, for sixteen years leader of her country’s once-conservative Christian Democrats, paved the way for post-war Germany’s most left-wing government at the 26 September federal election. The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which won 10.3 per cent of the vote, became a significant force only after Merkel’s unilateral 2015 decision to throw Germany’s borders open to over a million illegal immigrants – mostly not genuine refugees.