Merkel vows to reduce refugee influx but won’t cap numbers
Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2015 awardee German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her open door policy for refugees but vowed to stem the number of inflow at the same time at the Christian Democratic Union party conference on Monday.
In the two-day event in Karlsruhe, Merkel promised to meet the challenges put forth by the European refugee crisis. “This is a historic test for Europe, and I want – hopefully, I can say that we all want – that Europe passes this test,” she said as she began her opening day speech at the conservative party conference.
The German chancellor claimed that the nation will make sure it could work to let this happen. She also justified her “we can do this” line during her speech, saying it was the identity of the nation to do great things. In her speech, Merkel also remembered the major incidents of the year including the Charlie Hebdo attack, Ukraine and the Paris climate change conference.
Many political authorities have criticised Merkel’s denial on putting a cap on the number of refugee influx. Merkel also experienced criticism on her refugee policy, but at the same time, she enjoyed support for it at the annual meet. The backing indicated considerable support to Merkel’s stance, which influenced to get a common European solution to the crisis.
Merkel received appreciation on her refugee policy, but her verse surprised the supporters. “Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a ‘life lie,’ or a sham,” the chancellor said. She continued, “The challenge is immense. We want and we will reduce the number of refugees noticeably.”
The pressure on the German chancellor to put a halt on entrance of refugees into European borders perhaps prompted her to say that the nation would “noticeably reduce” the number of refugee entries.
“That was very important as it is completely clear that another million isn’t going to work,” said former family minister Kristina Schröder, referring to one million refugees who entered Germany in 2015. “That would overburden Germany.”
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