German Chancellor Angela Merkel has delivered one of her biggest speeches on refugees which has earned praise from across the globe.

Such was the response to the keynote address at her party conference that the Time magazine and Financial Times' Person of the Year received a standing ovation from Christian Democratic Union (CDU) delegates which was said to be nine minutes long.

Her words were laid out in an attempt to silence critics who demanded a halt to the influx of refugees she allowed into Germany in 2015.

We face the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War. The fight for a unified Europe is worthwhile – of that I am deeply convinced.

However, she did express plans to "tangibly reduce" the number of refugees, conceding that the issue remains a "giant task".

We are going to manage this – if there are obstacles to overcome, then we will have to work to overcome them. We are ready to show what we are made of.

She also stated it was Germany's "humanitarian duty" to take in war refugees and that she was committed to sharing the burden of the crisis with the country's EU neighbours.



