Merkel tells her party Germany will reduce migrant influx

In late July, Merkel brought a 14-year old Palestinian girl to tears when she told her she could not promise that her family’s asylum application would be successful, as Germany was not able to shelter all refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.

“At the same time we took on board the concerns of the people, who are anxious about the future, and this means we want to reduce, we want to drastically decrease the number of people coming to us”, Merkel said. Merkel has insisted “we will manage it”, but some in her conservative bloc have urged a tougher approach.

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.

Ms Merkel, 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 starting today in Karlsruhe.

Merkel, 61, received an eight-minute standing ovation at the end of her speech to roughly 1,000 CDU delegates in a vast conference center adorned with massive posters reading “For Germany and Europe”.

The German chancellor’s sudden move in early September to unconditionally welcome asylum seekers from Syria created a rift within the European Union, where some countries accused her of exercising a “pull” effect on migration.

“It belongs to the identity of our country to do the most that we can”, Merkel said Monday.

The ruling CDU party has repeatedly asked Merkel to limit the number of arriving refugees but the chancellor has been uncompromising.

Nevertheless, the CDU has recovered its footing in the polls after a steep drop in the autumn and is now tallying about 39%, just 2.5 points off its 2013 showing in the general election.

The SPD, which has been riven between centrists and leftists since Merkel booted then chancellor Gerhard Schroeder out of office in 2005, trails far behind at about 24 percent.

The leader of the CDU’s sister party CSU, Horst Seehofer, has described Merkel’s position as “a mistake”.