The chancellor, whose popularity has fallen over her handling of the refugee crisis, said the word “limit” did not feature in the CDU’s main resolution, which will be debated at the two-day party congress, which starts Monday in the southern city of Karlsruhe.
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While expressing understanding about the worries of her party fellows, Merkel also defended her decision in August to open Germany’s borders to refugees.
But in a nod to critics within her Christian Democration Union (CDU), who have pressed her to introduce a formal cap on the number of migrants Germany will accept, she also said she would stem the flow.
She stresses instead the importance of a diplomatic solution with Europe and Turkey.
Merkel, 61, won an eight-minute standing ovation at the end of her speech to about 1,000 CDU delegates in a conference centre adorned with posters reading “For Germany and Europe”.
She said Adenauer’s declaration during the Cold War that “we vote for freedom” and Kohl’s promise of “flourishing landscapes” after reunification had both come true, adding that Germany could similarly deliver on the “we can do this” pledge. The note says “the influx of refugees has raised net immigration to Germany to the record level of more than one million”. We see the administration of the refugee registration [centers] that is not working.
Ahead of an European Union summit this week, Merkel has banked on a multi-prong approach to cut refugee numbers, urging bolstered protection for the bloc’s external borders, support for Turkey to host refugees long-term, and a long-shot bid for a distribution scheme among European Union member states.
Merkel’s critics want her to ensure the number of refugees reduce before the elections in March, saying that her chances of running for a fourth term in 2017 would be in danger.
She also touted a range of measures already undertaken in Germany including extending a list of safe countries of origin, expediting repatriation of rejected asylum seekers and beefing up staffing to process applications.
Still the chancellor who last week was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year stuck to her optimistic mantra, insisting that Germany can handle the migrant crisis “because it is part of the identity of our country to do great things”.
Merkel, a Protestant pastor’s daughter who grew up in communist East Germany, has seen support for her party fall since the refugee crisis erupted in the late summer.
“We did not cling to terminology – it was all about the cause”, said the 30-year-old head of the Junge Union, Paul Zimiak, implying that he had got what he wanted.
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Nevertheless, the CDU has recovered its footing in the polls after a steep drop in the autumn and is now tallying about 39 per cent.
