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Over the past year a populist wave has swept over the world, toppling many establishment politicians and replacing them with people like President-elect Donald Trump — people who aren’t afraid to stand up to globalization.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of the few pro-European Union establishment politicians left in Europe who might still have a political future. Perhaps sensing the walls closing in around her, Merkel has taken a sudden new stance on burqas, Breitbart reported.
Merkel has proposed that burqas (also described by some news outlets as “full face veils”) be banned in Germany, wherever it is legally possible.
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After watching hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East flood Germany, Merkel has apparently begun sensing what a precarious situation she is in heading into next year’s election, so this move might simply be an effort by her to shore up conservative support and win re-election.
Merkel’s comments came at the Christian Democratic Union gathering, where they voted to nominate her as their party’s nominee, CNN reported.
“The full veil is not appropriate here, it should be forbidden wherever that is legally possible,” she said. “It does not belong to us.”
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There have been previous calls for a burqa ban before in various European countries, but they have had mixed results because of the myriad of legal and religious freedom hoops that need to be jumped through in order to enforce such a ban.
At the CDU gathering, Merkel also seemed to strike a different tone when it comes to the refugee crisis, the U.K. Independent noted. Merkel seemed to take a tougher stance toward it, as opposed to the open-border policy she has previously pursued.
“A situation like the one in the late summer of 2015 cannot, should not and must not be repeated,” she explained, referencing the surge of migrants entering Germany. “That was and is our, and my, declared political aim.”
It is unclear if this change in rhetoric will be able to save Merkel from the rising populist tide that is sick of business-as-usual politics and wants to see real change.
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