Merkel keeps rebels at bay with pledge to cut refugees

Last-minute deal to step back from migrant crisis sees German chancellor relieve growing tension

ANGELA MERKEL headed off a rebellion from within her Christian Democrat party yesterday when she pledged to reduce the number of refugees in Germany.

In a defiant speech to her party conference, the German chancellor defended her controversial policy, claiming it had been a “humanitarian imperative” at the height of the migrant crisis.

But she said the time had come to “reduce the number of refugees appreciably” before Germany was “overwhelmed”.

Mrs Merkel was facing open revolt within her party in the days before the conference, with rebels demanding she close the borders to refugees or impose a limit on the number allowed into the country.

But a last-minute deal appears to have seen off the crisis, as the party united behind a compromise motion pledging to cut numbers without naming an upper limit.

The vote was touted as a test of whether Mrs Merkel could still command the party, but in the event it was passed on a show of hands.

There was little sign of division as delegates gave Mrs Merkel, who was last week named Time magazine’s person of the year, a nine-minute standing ovation.

In a speech frequently interrupted by applause, she backed her decision to open the country’s doors to asylum- seekers as an emergency measure to deal with the crisis of the summer. “Thousands of refugees were stranded in Budapest, they were setting out on foot along the road to Austria,” she said.

“This was a situation that put our European values to the test more than ever before. It was nothing more or less than a humanitarian imperative. What we have seen on television now comes literally to our door. This is a historic test for Europe. I want, we want, Europe to answer this test.”

More than one million asylum seekers have arrived in Germany this year, and Mrs Merkel has seen her approval ratings plummet as public opinion has turned against her policy.

“Even a strong country like Germany would in the long run be unable to cope with such a large number of refugees,” she told party delegates, saying the country would start to reduce the numbers entering.

But she gave little detail on how her government intends to cut the numbers, saying only that Turkey would play a “key role”.

Under a new agreement, the EU is to give Turkey €3 billion (£2.2 billion) in aid and reopen the way to eventual Turkish membership in exchange for help in cutting the numbers of refugees travelling to Europe.

Mrs Merkel repeated her call for a “unified European approach” to solve the migrant crisis. Other EU countries have resisted German pressure to share refugees by quota.

Plans for a new EU border and coast guard force to secure the bloc’s external borders are to be announced today. The European Commission is expected to propose a new border force with a stronger mandate than Frontex, the existing EU border service.

Mrs Merkel said that those refugees who are allowed to stay in Germany would have to integrate.

“Whoever seeks refuge with us, must respect our laws and traditions and must learn German,” she said.

“Multiculturalism creates parallel societies,” she added. “Multiculturalism is a lie.”