Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a grave warning about the future of the European Union, claiming that the bloc could face destruction if member states continue tightening border controls and abandoning collective migration policies. Her remarks, delivered at the Southwestern Press Forum in Neu-Ulm during a presentation of her memoir Freedom, mark a dramatic reentry into political discourse at a moment of surging nationalism across Europe.

Merkel’s comments come in response to new migration control measures implemented by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet, which prohibit asylum applications at all German land borders, save for exceptions involving children, pregnant women, and vulnerable individuals. These policies, spearheaded by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, represent a definitive rupture with Merkel’s controversial 2015 “open-door” policy that saw over a million migrants enter Germany during the peak of the Syrian refugee crisis.

The former chancellor did not mince words when addressing Germany’s new hardline stance: “I do not believe we can decisively combat illegal migration at the German-Austrian or German-Polish border… I have always advocated European solutions,” she said. Merkel underscored that nationalistic approaches to migration, such as unilateral border closures, risk undermining the principles that hold the European Union together-chiefly, freedom of movement within the Schengen Area.

“Otherwise, we could see Europe destroyed,” Merkel warned, emphasizing the existential risk posed by disunity over migration policy.

Her remarks reflect mounting concern among European federalists that the erosion of the Schengen zone’s visa-free travel agreement could trigger........

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