Is Yerp Finally Going To Do Somwthing About The Disasterous Schengen Agreement?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38390577

[Khandro]

//Merkel didn't start it. It was conceived 25 years ago, and came into effect in 1995, long before AM.//

Yes, she was then just emerging from behind the iron curtain and launching on her political career back-stabbing Helmut Kohl, the man who had helped her and to whom she owed much.

[Gromit]

Khandro,

Was Merkel instrumental in Khol's downfall.

He managed to lose the 1998 Federal Elections (Merkel was a CDU Government Minister).
He was for cd to resign in 2000 over the CDU donations scandal, which he failed to cooperate with. His demise was mostly his own doing.

[Peter Pedant]

// if you say "Europe" like Harry Enfields Tory Boy, it's pronounced Yerp. See?// and if you say 3T to describe the fella in AB it is pronounced wonker

since we arent in Schengen - it is all a bit theoretical
and woldnt affect us one way or the other

and yes I think they will get the security cameras out ....
I dont think schengen works like the Northern Irish / Republic boundary or the Rio Grande where the mehicans just walk across ....

[Peter Pedant]

// He was forced to resign in 2000 over the CDU donations scandal, which he failed to cooperate with. //

Kohl did NOT impress the German electorate one little bit with that
and he wasnt invited to the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Fall of the Wall - even tho historically he is creditted with achieving it

[Gromit]

PP,
While Merkel may have profited from Khol's disgrace, I don't think she played any part in it. It is one thing to dislike Merkel's running of the country now, but rewriting 20 year old history is pointless.

[New Judge]

“since we arent in Schengen - it is all a bit theoretical
and woldnt affect us one way or the other “

Of course it affects us Peter. That ridiculous agreement effectively puts the border of France (our closest Schengen neighbour) with Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine and (more importantly) Turkey. It means anybody making it by any means to the EU is free to roam across the continent and end up just twenty-two miles across the channel from here. If you believe Schengen was not the cause of the migrant problem in Calais and other channel ports you should look up the history of those problems.

“I dont think schengen works like the Northern Irish / Republic boundary or the Rio Grande where the mehicans just walk across ....”

You really don’t think that? Have you been to mainland Europe recently? Once in France you can travel wherever you like. There are no national boundaries. You can travel to the Arctic Circle in Norway; you can travel to Russia’s western border with the Baltic States; you can travel to southern Italy. Nobody will stop you; nobody will check your credentials; nobody will establish whether you have a right to enter the various countries you traverse.

The EU boasts, as its two most glorious achievements, the single currency and the Schengen Area. Personally I find it hard to decide which of the two has caused more damage to the people and the fabric of Europe.

[naomi24]

TTT, If I knew what you were talking about I'd attempt an answer. As it is I don't, so I won't.

[Khandro]

Grommit; //While Merkel may have profited from Khol's disgrace, I don't think she played any part in it. //
Kohl refused to state from where some of the CDUs finances came, she was instrumental in bringing this about by writing an open letter accusing him and those around him of doing something untoward, he was further attacked by refusing to state the source of the donation and forced to resign enabling her to step into his place.

[Gromit]

Khandro,

Thank you very much, I have learned something new. I found this interesting...

// Merkel realized at the time that this secret would eventually come out and would inevitably lead to Schäuble's downfall. She also knew that, if she wasn't careful, she could go down with him. After all, it was only logical that the general secretary of a party would have the confidence of the head of that party.
And so she wrote about it -- in what was widely described as a "Dear John" letter addressed to Kohl and published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Dec. 22, 1999. In the letter she was very critical of Kohl, saying that the new generation of politicians in the CDU needed to distance themselves from him, in the same way that teenagers must distance themselves from their parents if they are to become adults. Even though Merkel had only told Schäuble about plans to publish the open letter the night before, Kohl was convinced that the missive had been published with Schäuble's foreknowledge and approval.
The scrap between Kohl and Schäuble, the pair that had formerly been bound with an invisible cord, toppled both of them off the pedestal on which they had formerly stood together. And there, waiting quietly in the wings, was Merkel. //

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-s-schreiber-affair-the-scandal-that-helped-merkel-become-chancellor-a-640938.html

[jourdain2]

Just a speculation - 'And there, waiting in the wings, was May'? The analogy sprang to mind, it may not, of course be valid - I haven't thought it through.

[Khandro]

Gromit; Thanks. If the attack had come from the opposition and not from a self-serving member of one's own party it might have been more understandable, but to someone versed in former East German politics, it was par for the course.
(I believe she is still mentally one of the old communist order!)

Germany at the time was paying enormous sums of compensation to the Russians and re-financing the East, there was a need for more funds and someone made a contribution, there was never any question of Helmut Kohl profiting from the donation. He did the honourable thing by keeping his word to someone unknown and for that, he paid dearly.