Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has indicated for the first time she is prepared to change her controversial refugee policy in the wake of heavy regional election losses to the anti-immigration AfD party.
"If I knew what change in refugee policy the people in Germany want, I would be prepared to consider it," she said. "If I could, I would go back in time to be better prepared for the refugee crisis in 2015, for which we were rather unprepared."
More News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:35
Merkel gets drubbing in Berlin vote
- Video duration
- 02:22
The demolition of a Chinese city
- Video duration
- 02:29
Is America ready for a Madam President?
- Video duration
- 01:00
Drug user declares support for Duterte
- Video duration
- 01:40
Yahoo confirms massive data breach
- Video duration
- 00:27
The Dalai Lama impersonates Trump
- Video duration
- 01:15
Alex's letter of help to Obama
- Video duration
- 00:58
Clinton appears on spoof talk show
Merkel gets drubbing in Berlin vote
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives suffer another electoral blow after Berlin elections in which voters reject her migrant policy and lend more support to an emergent far-right anti-immigration party.
Dr Merkel was speaking at a press conference arranged to address her Christian Democrat (CDU) party's disastrous performance in Berlin state elections at the weekend. It recorded its worst ever showing in the German capital, with just 17.6 per cent of the vote.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD), which secured 14.5 per cent of the vote, now holds seats in the Berlin state parliament, and its councillors will have direct influence over refugee policy.
"I take responsibility as party leader and Chancellor," said Dr Merkel, calling the results "bitter".
She said she would not repeat her earlier slogan in the migrant crisis of "We can do it" because it had become "an empty phrase".
Her "open-door" refugee policy has driven the CDU to its lowest level in the national polls for four years and her personal approval ratings have plummeted. She has reacted defiantly to previous losses in regional elections, but yesterday cancelled plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York in favour of the press conference, a sign of how seriously the Berlin results are being taken.
With just a year to go before national elections, Dr Merkel is still refusing to say whether she will stand for a historic fourth term. But it is clear she feels she can no longer allow her party to go on suffering defeats at the hands of the AfD.
During her more than 10 years in power, Dr Merkel has shown that no position is non-negotiable or cannot be changed if necessary. Most notably, before 2013's elections she performed a U-turn over her unpopular support for nuclear energy.
However, until now, she has remained immovable over her refugee policy. But yesterday she also made clear she was not prepared to back down completely.
"If people don't want Muslim asylum seekers purely because of their religion, that is contrary to our party principles and to Germany's," she said. "The CDU and I cannot go along with that."
Her admission comes as world leaders on Monday approved a UN declaration aimed at providing a more co-ordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis, which has strained resources and sparked divisions from Africa to Europe.
The issue of what to do about the world's 65.3 million displaced people took centre stage at the UNÂ General Assembly, with leaders from the 193 member states taking part in the first summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.
Advocacy groups worried that the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees – a  document that contains no concrete commitments and is not legally binding – falls short of what is needed, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a refugee during the Korean War, hailed it as historic.
"Today's summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility," Mr Ban said.
The Berlin results came two weeks after similar losses in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Dr Merkel's allies are demanding action. "This is the second massive wake-up call in two weeks," Markus Soder, of her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), said.
"It is high time we find common ground to survive at the next election," said Horst Seehofer, the CSU party leader, adding that the sister parties faced "the most difficult position we have ever been in".
Telegraph, London; AP
17 comments
Comment are now closed