Employers back Merkel as refugees settle in jobs

ANGELA MERKEL, the German chancellor, was right to take an optimistic approach to integrating refugees as almost 400,000 are now in work or training, the head of the country’s federation of employers has said.

On the eve of mass arrivals in late 2015, Mrs Merkel told Germany: “We can do it”. The phrase echoed around the world as a rallying cry on the refugee crisis, in which the country took in over a million people, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan.

As communities came to terms with the financial strain of providing housing and schools to refugees, domestic opponents accused Mrs Merkel of indulging in lofty rhetoric while leaving local authorities in the lurch.

However, Ingo Kramer, head of the German Employers’ Federation, said robust job figures showed she had been correct.

“Yes, ‘we are doing it’ with integration,” he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. “Of more than one million people who have come to Germany since 2015, almost 400,000 have an apprenticeship or job.”

Alexander Gauland, the leader of the nationalist AFD, accused Mr Kramer of “living on another planet”.

He claimed an “irresponsible policy of open borders” had led to growing housing shortages and rising rents.