Chancellor Angela Merkel made a pitch to win back voters dismayed by the influx of refugees and Germany’s deepening involvement in worldwide crises, hinting at tax cuts and attempting to broaden her party base with an appeal to citizens of Turkish descent.
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“What I continue to think is wrong is that some say “we generally don’t want Muslims in our country, regardless of whether there’s a humanitarian need or not”.
The German chancellor spent last week talking to European leaders, including those of the Visegrad countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – who have been reluctant to take in refugees.
On Sunday, a poll showed that half of Germans did not want her serving a fourth term in office after a federal election next year.
BAMF chief Frank-Juergen Weise told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Germany’s healthy economy and improvements to refugee services meant that the country was well-placed to absorb new arrivals, particularly as their numbers have dropped off.
Merkel has not yet said if she will run, with an announcement possible at her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party congress in December.
Merkel’s Social Democrat coalition partners have promised voters increased spending on infrastructure, education and research. 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.
Weise said his office would struggle to cope if more people came to the country.
Yet according to a recent Oxfam report, most western countries, including Germany, have taken in a very small percentage of asylum seekers that exist, with many more seeking shelter in poor countries such as Turkey and Lebanon.
With Germany in election mode, Chancellor Angela Merkel hints at tax cuts and appeals to citizens of Turkish descent for support.
“Brexit is bad but it won’t hurt us as much economically as some fear – it’s more of a psychological problem and it’s a huge problem politically”, he said.
Germany took in around a million asylum seekers, mostly from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.
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Germany’s federal immigration office is ready to accept at most 300,000 refugees in 2016, its head told local media on Sunday.
