Almost 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany, Europe’s top economic power past year, putting enormous strain on the country’s bureaucracy to process claims and testing confidence in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s right-left coalition government.
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Merkel’s migrant policy also drew criticism from Markus Soeder, a senior member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel chats with a girl during a welcoming ceremony at Nizip refugee camp near Gaziantep, Turkey, April 23, 2016.
Bild am Sonntag cited a poll by independent opinion research group Emnid showing 50 per cent of respondents opposed another four- year term for Dr Merkel, up from 48 per cent in November last year.
Merkel, 62, has yet to reveal whether she will seek re-election next year, saying: “I will comment on that at the appropriate time”.
Gabriel also criticized Merkel’s catchphrase “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this”), which she adopted during last year’s migrant crisis.
“We are at a completely different position since past year”, Merkel told ARD, highlighting the progress. While many Germans have welcomed the new arrivals, a growing number claim the country can not cope with integrating them and risks losing its identity.
He said repeating the phrase was not enough and the coalition needed to create conditions to help Germany cope.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said it was “inconceivable” that Germany could again take in a million refugees and other immigrants in a single year.
Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Frank-Juergen Weise, the head of the country’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, said: “We can do it”. He said an updated count would be presented soon.
“We are preparing for between 250,000 and 300,000 refugees this year”, he said. Should the estimate be too low, however, Weise said his office would be “under pressure” and application processing would take longer.
“Rather than rushing into activities, we should perhaps first take time to think about what we, as the 27 countries, must do better”, she said, adding that this was the direction that talks with partner countries were going in.
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He estimated that around 10% of the new arrivals had university degrees while around 40% do not have formal vocational training but do have practical work experience.
