Wir schaffen das

"Wir schaffen das" (roughly, "we can manage this"; "we can handle this" or "we can do this") is an assertion made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the 2015 European migrant crisis that Germany could cope with the refugee inflows. It quickly became a symbol of the government's refugee policy both for supporters and detractors alike.

I say quite simply: Germany is a strong country. The attitude with which we approach these things has to be: We have done so much - we can do this! We can do this, and where something stands in our way, it must be overcome, it must be worked on. The federal government will do everything in its power - together with the states, together with the municipalities - to achieve exactly that.

Angela Merkel

Merkel first used the phrase on 31 August 2015, at a press conference following a visit to a refugee camp near Dresden where local opponents of her refugee policy booed and heckled her.[1] The full sentence she used was "Wir haben so vieles geschafft – wir schaffen das.” This can be translated as "We have managed so many things — we will also manage this situation."[1]

Merkel repeated the phrase in 2016 against a background of violence and crime by some immigrants in Germany,[2] including the 2016 Munich shooting, the 2016 Ansbach bombing, and the Würzburg train attack.[3]

In September 2016, Merkel stated that she would no longer be using the phrase. In an interview with the German paper, Wirtschaftswoche, she said "I sometimes think this phrase was a little overstated, that too much store was set by it — to the extent that I’d prefer not to repeat it".[4]

Use of phrase by other politicians

Soon after Merkel first used the phrase, her right-wing opponents began to sarcastically use it to criticize her pro-immigration policy.[1]

In November 2018, CDU Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer,who at the time was a candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as CDU party chairwoman, used the phrase several times during a party conference, referring not to asylum seekers but to family policies.[5]

On 21 August 2019, the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, used the phrase “Wir schaffen das” in a joint press conference with Chancellor Merkel, in a reference to the Anglo-German discussions around Brexit.[6]

Accuracy of claim

A study by the Institute of German Economy (IW) in September 2020 found that more and more asylum seekers in the labor market are in employment, with the employment rate of people from the main source countries (during the 2015/2016 migrant crisis) almost tripling from 10.6% in 2016 to 29% in 2020.[7]

References
  1. Delcker, Janosch (23 August 2016). "The phrase that haunts Angela Merkel". Politico. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. "Ermittlungen zum Münchner Amoklauf abgeschlossen". Landescriminalamt Bayern. Archived from the original on 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  3. "After rampages, Merkel says again: Wir schaffen das". The Local. AFP. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  4. Emmet Livingstone (17 September 2016). "Angela Merkel drops the 'we can do it' slogan". Politico. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  5. Kramp-Karrenbauer wiederholt Merkels umstrittensten Satz, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 30 November 2018
  6. "Boris Johnson: "Wir schaffen das"". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  7. "Integration: Immer mehr Geflüchtete haben einen Job".
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