Merkel allays party fears over migrant flow
Print Edition
German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised at a congress of her conservative party yesterday to reduce substantially the number of migrants entering Germany, responding to rank-and-file concerns about the influx of a million refugees this year alone.
Despite being named person of the year by both Time magazine and the Financial Times for her bold response to the crisis, Merkel faces growing opposition at home to her open-door refugee policy and has begun hardening her position.
She told her center-right Christian Democrats, or CDU, that the decision in August to welcome the refugees fleeing war and deprivation in the Middle East was a 鈥渉umanitarian imperative鈥, but she also vowed to stem the flow.
鈥淲e want to, and we will, noticeably reduce the number of refugees,鈥 she said to rapturous applause at the congress in Karlsruhe, in the southwestern state of Baden-Wurttemberg, which holds a state election next March.
Merkel, 61, received an 8-minute standing ovation at the end of her speech to roughly 1,000 CDU delegates in a vast conference center adorned with massive posters reading 鈥淔or Germany and Europe.鈥
Her use of the phrase 鈥渘oticeably reduce鈥 came directly from a resolution the CDU leadership hastily reworked on the eve of the congress to head off an open rebellion over her refugee policy.
In the updated resolution, the party leadership added: 鈥淎 continuation of the current influx would in the long-term overwhelm the state and society, even in a country like Germany.鈥
Merkel defended her catchphrase of 鈥渨e can do this鈥 during the refugee crisis by saying the party must show its Christian roots, and she likened it to pledges made by former conservative chancellors Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl in troubled times.
She said Adenauer鈥檚 declaration during the Cold War that 鈥渨e vote for freedom鈥 and Kohl鈥檚 promise of 鈥渇lourishing landscapes鈥 after reunification had both come true, adding that Germany could similarly deliver on the 鈥渨e can do this鈥 pledge.
鈥淕ermany should be a country that is open, curious, tolerant and even exciting,鈥 Merkel said, painting an upbeat vision for the future and stressing how far the country had come since she took power a decade ago.
鈥淭en years ago things were not good,鈥 she said. 鈥淓urope was deeply divided over the Iraq war. In Germany we had 5 million unemployed. People spoke of German angst, we were the sick man of Europe.鈥
Merkel has seen support for her party fall since the refugee crisis erupted in late summer. A poll on Sunday put support for her conservative alliance of the CDU and its Bavarian allies at 37 percent, down from 43 percent in mid-August.
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