German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds the annual summer news conference in Berlin, Germany, July 20, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the row within her conservative party alliance on migration policy had been necessary but warned that politicians should take care to avoid being excessively confrontational.

“Language is an expression of thought, and so one has to be very cautious,” she said. “But reconciliation within a society can only be achieved by talking about differences of opinion. But the style of that discussion could be improved.”

Merkel’s government was brought to the brink of collapse this month over strident demands from her Bavarian allies that Germany’s migration policy be tightened up.