Is Angela Merkel willing to compromise on free movement?

According to the Daily Telegraph’s front page on Wednesday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has “signalled that she may be willing to compromise on the issue of free movement”, suggesting “in comments interpreted as a significant shift” that Britain “may be able to gain full control of its borders while retaining access to the single market”.

Pro-Brexit MPs told the paper that Merkel’s comments marked “the beginning of a new realism” among the EU-27, who have hitherto been steadfast and united in their insistence that when the UK leaves the bloc, it will not be able to both curb EU immigration and keep enhanced access to the single market.

The Daily Mail, similarly, said Merkel “conceded the EU could overhaul its rules on migration”, adding that she had done so “only to try to keep Britain in the single market”.

What Merkel actually did was state clearly once again that the EU would not divide its four freedoms – movement of goods, capital, people and services – to allow Britain to restrict immigration while retaining tariff-free access to the single market.

As Die Welt pointed out in its report of her speech, she “firmly rejected, in an unusually clear manner, all claims from Great Britain to privileged access to the single market after its EU exit”.

Merkel told a meeting of the German employers’ association BDA: “Were we to make an exception for the free movement of people with Britain, this would mean we would endanger principles of the whole internal market in the European Union, because everyone else will then want these exceptions.”

So where did the Mail and the Telegraph’s confusion come from? Apparently, from Merkel’s subsequent suggestion that while the EU “cannot wobble” on the basic principles of free movement, there was room for discussion within the bloc on the level of benefits available to EU citizens who exercise their right to free movement.

Merkel said that if, for example, someone came to Germany from eastern Europe and worked only for a short time but acquired a lifelong claim on welfare benefits, “then I see a question about which we must talk again”.

“Free movement applies to me in the sense that the employee himself earns the money he needs for himself and his family in the other member state … I personally am of the view that we will have to discuss further with the European commission when this freedom of movement applies from.”

Simply, the pro-Brexit newspapers – and a potentially misleading Reuters report – have wrongly interpreted the chancellor’s long-held view that the restriction of benefits for EU migrants should be a subject for further discussion in the bloc, as a willingness to open up for debate the whole principle of free movement.

It is worth noting that last month Germany moved to impose strict limits on EU citizens’ access to the country’s social welfare system, with the government approving a draft bill barring EU migrants from drawing benefits for their first five years in Germany. At present, EU citizens are entitled to benefits after living in Germany for six months.

The debate on tackling welfare tourism is still live in Germany, and it is important to remember Merkel was addressing the German employers’ federation. But it would be very wrong to confuse that debate with any willingness to budge on the fundamental principle of free movement.

The Telegraph and Mail are mistaken to interpret Merkel’s remarks as they did. (Also worth remembering is that Merkel rarely “signals” anything. She says it.)