In addition, Merkel reiterated that Turkey was a key partner for reducing the number of refugees coming to the EU’s borders.
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In the wake of the Paris terror attacks and unrest in the Belgian capital of Brussels, Germany is at heightened risk of attacks by the fundamentalist Islamist group known as “Daesh”.
She said Germany could send Tornado aircraft fitted with surveillance technology that can take high-resolution photos and infrared images, even at night and in bad weather, and transmit them in real time to ground stations.
Refugee-critical remarks by French prime minister Manuel Valls – and his later U-turn – prompted irritation in Berlin, amid an increasingly charged atmosphere in Germany.
European Union countries are lining up in opposition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open door refugee policy with some countries closing their borders and others establishing strict border controls to try and slow the flood of refugees.
European and Turkish officials are working to smooth out their remaining differences on an agreement to help stem flows of migrants to Europe, which they hope will be signed on Sunday.
“The strongest response to terrorists is to carry on living our lives and our values as we have until now – self-confident and free, considerate and engaged”, she said to loud applause.
While Merkel made no specific reference of a cap in her speech to the Bundestag on Wednesday, many of her remarks dealt with other ways that would reduce the number of refugees.
Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with François Hollande in Paris, and amid mixed French signals on refugees, the German leader stood firm amid growing domestic pressure to change course on the crisis.
“Otherwise Europe will call into question its ability to control its borders effectively”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama have both pledged to beef up their support for France in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.
Germany said it is bolstering its military presence in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and deploy jets in the fight against ISIS, following a French plea to European Union allies after the deadly bombings in Paris.
Police figures released on Monday showed that Germany has already taken in 180,000 refugee in November and is set breach the 1 million mark this week for the amount it has taken overall in 2015.
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Many asylum seekers destroy their passports upon arrival in their destination country, one of the reasons why Germany has been able to deport only about 30 per cent of those rejected.
