The latest of the run on-effects of this decision is now in Austria. The 31-year-old leader of the People’s Party, Sebastian Kurz, will soon be chancellor of Austria, after the smashing success of his insurgent campaign, which renovated the party. Kurz won by promising “something new” in politics. That something new includes a position on immigration that is arguably harder than the one offered by the far-right Freedom Party, a group with some roots in fascist politics and the likely coalition partner of Kurz’s party. Kurz talks openly of working with or joining the Visgrád Group, the four countries of central Europe that have rejected Merkel’s migration quotas.

The migration flow created after the 2015 “welcome” were used by terrorists involved in the Bataclan massacre in Paris and in the Brussels airport bombing. The sudden security problem overwhelmed and essentially ended the Schengen arrangements that allowed free travel between many European countries. Thus began a race of border reinforcements. In mid 2015, Hungary closed its border to Serbia. The weeks afterward saw Bulgaria build a fence along its border with Turkey. Then Austria closed its border to Hungary, and Hungary closed its border to Austria. Germany temporarily closed to Austria. Weeks later, Slovenia began building a wall on its Croatian border. These are Merkel’s walls.