Germany’s Merkel says euro zone crisis not yet overcome

The internal opposition within her CDU party wants her to reduce the number of new arrivals before regional elections in three German states take place in March and claims that Merkel’s hopes to run for a fourth term in 2017 are in jeopardy.

“This challenge is enormous”, she said of the refugee crisis, adding that her government would “noticeably reduce” the inflow into Germany, which expects more than one million refugees to arrive this year.

The chancellor made clear that an upper limit on the number of refugees was not included in the resolution to be submitted to delegates on the upcoming party conference, adding that a reduction of the refugee influx could not be realized through “unilateral national measures alone”.

But the vibe in Karlsruhe was largely positive, in contrast to the mood in Berlin last week when the rival Social Democrats (SPD) held their own congress and sanctioned their leader Sigmar Gabriel for failing to make more of Merkel’s vulnerability in the refugee crisis.

“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.

“How would somebody think about us if they said, ‘They didn’t believe in their strengths; they really didn’t do everything to find a solution, ‘” Dr Merkel said in her 70-minute speech yesterday.

“This was a situation that put our European values to the test more than ever before”.

“Even a strong country like Germany would in the long run be unable to cope with such a large number of refugees”, she told party delegates, saying the country would start to reduce the numbers entering.

“I can say that because it’s a part of the identity of our country to do great things”, she said. In 2010, she made headlines when, during a speech to a similar CDU meeting, she said, “Of course the multicultural approach, living side by side and being happy with one another, this approach has failed utterly”.

“What we have seen on television now comes literally to our door”. “But it’s never been easy in Europe, never in all of these 10 years that I have so far experienced”.

While a few European leaders support an open-door refugee policy, others prefer controlling the external borders of the EU, deporting more people and paying third countries to keep asylum seekers on their soil.

Merkel also insisted she took the concerns of the rank-and-file seriously.

Her insistence that Germany can handle the infrastructure demands of its newcomers – schools, housing, education – comes on the heels of her being named Time magazine’s “person of the year” for her role not just on the refugee crisis but in resolving Greece’s debt crisis and fighting the Islamic State.