Burqa ban call aims to regain right-wing votes
Angela Merkel has called for a burqa ban in Germany and pledged never to repeat her “open-door” refugee policy of 2015 as she launched her bid to win a fourth term as Chancellor.
Addressing her Christian Democratic Union party’s annual conference, Merkel set out her stall to lead the party into next year’s election.
She promised to defend the EU and warned that Britain would not be allowed to “cherry pick” in Brexit talks. She also described as a “disgrace” the West’s failure to prevent the violence and suffering in Aleppo.
But it was the Chancellor’s call for a burqa ban that won the loudest applause from party delegates. “The full veil must be banned, wherever legally possible. Showing your face is part of our way of life. Our laws take precedence over honour codes, tribal customs and sharia.”
Speaking ahead of a vote that reelected her as party leader with 89.5 per cent of delegates’ votes, Merkel sought to distance herself from her decision to open Germany to asylum seekers last year. “We have said again and again, a situation like the late summer of 2015 cannot and will not be repeated,” she said.
She pledged that not all of the more than one million migrants who flooded into the country would be allowed to stay, and that those who are will have to integrate.
The speech was not the u-turn it appeared. Merkel distanced herself from the refugee policy a few months ago, and her party proposed a limited burqa ban this year. She called only for a ban “where legally possible”. Most experts agree the German constitution prohibits a blanket ban.
The speech was formulated to appeal to her party base after a year in which it has lost support to the farright Alternative for Germany party, which has campaigned on an antiimmigrant and anti-Islam platform.
Merkel was given an 11-minute standing ovation, but the fact that more than 10 per cent of the party voted against her re-election was a sign of discontent behind the united front. Merkel was standing unopposed. Two years ago, she won with 96.7 per cent, and in 2012, with 97.9 per cent.
She is the last standing of a generation of Western liberal leaders, after 2016 saw the downfall of Britain’s David Cameron, France’s Francois Hollande and Italy’s Matteo Renzi. Barack Obama effectively handed the torch to her in his final visit to Germany as US President last month.