German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Carsten Koall/Getty Images Angela Merkel urges German unity against AfD The chancellor defends her record on refugees and seeks a united front against the growing far right.

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Germany's mainstream parties on Wednesday to unite against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which overtook her conservatives to place second in a regional election last weekend.

The anti-immigrant AfD's gains in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was widely interpreted as a rejection of Merkel's open-door policy on refugees, though the chancellor has defended her actions.

"We all have to look at our own performances,” she told the parliament, describing the current situation of refugees in Germany as "much better than a year ago, for everyone."

Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) came third in Sunday's state election behind the Social Democrats (SPD) and AfD, which was founded three years ago in protest against eurozone bailouts but has since developed a broader ultra-conservative stance. Its campaign in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern focused largely on whipping up discontent with the chancellor's migration policy.

During Wednesday's speech to the Bundestag, Merkel defended her government's record on reducing the influx of refugees and speeding up the repatriation of people who have been denied asylum.

"We’ve come up with regulations to steer this situation, to reestablish order, and reduced the number of refugees,” she said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Merkel's deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the conservatives' SPD coalition partners, blamed her indirectly for the rise of the far-right party, speaking in a radio interview about “those … who lost massively to the AfD."

In response to his comments, Merkel told parliament that it was “not just a challenge to the CDU ... It is a challenge for all of us gathered in this house."

The conservative chancellor, who is under more pressure than ever in her nearly 11 years in office, used an unusually combative tone in her speech, challenging MPs to embrace "change for the better" and winning applause from conservative benches with the emotive words: “Germany will remain Germany, with everything we value and hold dear to us.”

She defended the EU's refugee deal with Turkey, calling it a model for future agreements with North African countries like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, and repeated her criticism of those EU countries that have refused to cooperate in the refugee crisis.

"Solidarity within Europe leaves a lot to be desired,” said Merkel.