Germany

Immigration
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Chistian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union, were embroiled in a dispute over refugees for weeks in November and December 2015. Merkel resisted calls by some members of her party for a refugee cap, remarking that the right to asylum for people suffering from political persecution could not be limited. Despite pleas for a cap, EU legal guidelines generally overrode national laws, questioning the legality of such a measure.

Crime
On New Year's Eve in 2015, about 90 women reported being robbed, threatened, or sexually molested outside Cologne's cathedral by young, mostly drunk, men, described as Arab or North African, heightening the debate on immigration.