Comment: Söder's border police stay, and that's a good thing

After the verdict of the Bavarian constitutional judge on Söders border police, everyone sees themselves confirmed: the green plaintiffs and the CSU. In fact, there could soon be more to do at the borders than many would like. A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.

The verdict of the Bavarian constitutional judge on Söder's border police sounds like the late echo of a battle noise from lost time: the Chancellor and the CSU have long since settled their bitter asylum dispute. Today there is no longer any debate as to whether Bavaria should itself be allowed to take action at the border if Berlin lacks the political will to stop refugee movements. Merkel's promise applies that the chaos of 2015 will not repeat itself. Ultimately, this makes the Munich judgment a historical footnote.

After all, the opposition achieved a symbolic success with its lawsuit. The protection of the external border is a federal matter, state the constitutional judges - ironically, almost five years to the day after Merkel's famous “We can do it”. Since Berlin and Munich have long been working hand in hand on Bavaria's borders, especially in the context of the veil search that is still permitted, little has in fact changed. So Söder does not have to abolish the border police he founded in 2018. 

Despite all the joy of the Greens about their partial legal success: Much more important than an internal German lack of competence are the enormous geopolitical dangers. Even if the situation at the borders is currently still calm: Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has all the levers to change that in a few days, on Europe's eastern flank as well as in Libya, where he controls the central refugee route. In the gas dispute with Greece, he is already unabashedly using this leverage against EU mediator Merkel. In Athens there is deep concern that the Chancellor might take Turkey's side out of self-interest. The situation is precarious. In the Aegean. And soon at our borders again?