Merkel pledges to reduce refugee flow
German Chancellor averts rebellion with tougher rhetoric on asylum seekers
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 centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) that the decision in August to welcome the refugees fleeing war and deprivation in the Middle East was a “humanitarian imperative”, but she also vowed to stem the flow.
“We want to, and we will, noticeably reduce the number of refugees,” 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 eight-minute standing ovation at the end of her speech to roughly 1,000 CDU delegates in a vast conference centre adorned with massive posters reading “For Germany and Europe”.
‘Noticeably reduce’
Her use of the phrase “noticeably reduce” 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: “A continuation of the current influx would in the long-term overwhelm the state and society, even in a country like Germany.”
Merkel defended her catchphrase of “we can do this” 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’s declaration during the Cold War that “we vote for freedom” and Kohl’s promise of “flourishing landscapes” after reunification had both come true, adding that Germany could similarly deliver on the “we can do this” pledge.
“Germany should be a country that is open, curious, tolerant and even exciting,” Merkel said, painting an upbeat vision for the future and stressing how far the country had come since she took power a decade ago.
“Ten years ago things were not good,” she said. “Europe was deeply divided over the Iraq war. In Germany we had five million unemployed. People spoke of German angst, we were the sick man of Europe.”
Ahastily abandoned suitcase, an overturned glass and a radio blaring a warning “to leave now”. A unique museum is giving Dutch schoolkids a scarily real glimpse of life as a refugee.
In a school outing with a difference, teenagers Amy and Sona visited the museum in The Hague, opened in 2010 by the Dutch Red Cross, to raise awareness of the work of organisations helping those fleeing war and poverty.
Only moments into their tour of Humanity House, the girls, both 16, were issued with “a visa” allowing them to start their journey towards the security of zone B.
And even though this was a staged trip, both had a few heart-stopping moments as they symbolically traced the steps of hundreds of thousands of people who leave their lives behind to make the perilous journey to Europe’s shores. After setting off, “the trip becomes a journey into the unknown, where they have to confront several dangers and uncertainties,” Lisette Mattaar, the museum’s director, said.
The museum welcomed some 30,000 visitors in 2014 compared with 14,000 at the beginning. But with refugees now arriving daily in Europe interest in the refugee issue and demand for tours has grown. “Even if it’s just a little bit, we get an idea of what they are going through,” said Sona.