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Bremen-based political scientist Philip Manow said “cheesy ideas of Merkel's Mother Teresa moment" live on, but Germans should not be fooled.

He said the real reason for the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s widely-criticised open-door refugee policy was to save Germany from losing billions if its eurozone neighbour collapsed into economic ruin.

Writing for German newspaper FAZ, Mr Manow said: “The opening of the border was the almost inevitable protection of the Greece deal."

Germany invested tens of billions in the rescue of its eurozone neighbour Greece in the face of bankruptcy.