GETTY Merkel is facing pressure to control immigration

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Bavarian finance minister Markus Soeder also said: "A change of course is coming up. The statements of the chancellor are already considerable. This is the right approach. "But of course, actions have to follow words." The German chancellor has previously admitted making mistakes in her open-doors refugee policy.

GETTY Thousands have campaigned against Merkel's lenient migrant policies

We want to maintain Germany as Germany. There is a lot of work ahead of us Markus Soeder

Germany took in one million migrants last year and over 70,000 of them went to Berlin, which is where the state elections took place at the weekend. Mr Soeder reiterated his party's call to have an upper limit of refugees and has called the vote "a massive wake up call" for her to impose strict limits on migration. He said: "The upper limit it not a form of self-righteousness. The term is a symbol that the current system is not working and that it needs to change."

GETTY The German chancellor has admitted mistakes in her migrant policies

Mr Soeder also said: "We want to maintain Germany as Germany. There is a lot of work ahead of us." The Bavarian finance minister, who is from the Christian Social Union (CSU) - the sister-party of Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said he believes the Chancellor will resign in the run-up to the 2017 election. Mr Soeder said he will not run himself, saying: "You have to remain a credible person. I have always been in Bavaria and will stay there. Just recently I have been nominated unanimously by my district association for the state election."

Angela Merkel in pictures Tue, August 8, 2017 Angela Merkel has served as German Chancellor since 2005 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. We take a look at her political career in pictures. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 83 Angela Merkel through the years

GETTY Germany has suffered integration issues following a migrant influx