Merkel wants to “drastically reduce” refugee arrivals in Germany

Germany is expected to see around one million new asylum applications this year, more than any other country in the European Union.

Speaking at her party’s convention, Time’s “Person of the Year” said Germany may soon reach its capacity for refugees.

“We want to and will reduce the number of refugees appreciably”, she told delegates.

According to an opinion poll published over the weekend by Bild, the tabloid newspaper that has supported Merkel’s refugee policy, 62 percent of Germans are now in favour of an “upper limit” on the number of refugees.

“We want to noticeably reduce the number of people who come to us, but not through unilateral national measures alone, but by looking at why refugees have to leave their homes in the first place”.

Despite pressures and her popularity drop in recent months, Merkel insisted that Germany has a “moral and political” duty as the top economic power of Europe to help people fleeing the war-torn Syria.

The vote was touted as a test of whether Mrs Merkel could still command the party, but in the event it was passed on a simple show of hands.

Over the weekend, Merkel’s party called for reducing asylum-seekers and refugees because “a continuation of the current influx would in the long term overburden the state and society, even in a country like Germany”.

The Chancellor won a battle with the right-wing of the CDU in the run-up to the gathering by torpedoing its bid to set a cap on the number of asylum seekers Germany would take in – a proposal she has denounced as immoral and unconstitutional. Since then, as many as one million immigrants have arrived in Germany. Merkel boasted that it was her party that extended the “safe countries of origin” list to include three Balkan states; Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia.

As CDU delegates converge on the southwestern city for the two-day party conference, the European refugee crisis that risks overwhelming towns and communities across Germany is the biggest topic on the agenda.

“She is in effect calling a no-confidence vote at the party congress”. She also dismissed the idea of multiculturalism, which in parts of Europe is associated with a policy of encouraging distinct cultural groups to live in separate communities.

The CDU members gave Merkel a standing ovation, applauding for several minutes after she left the podium.

Merkel doesn’t face re-election as party leader at this congress, and despite this year’s tensions still faces no serious rivals.

“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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