Calling for EU solidarity before summit on crisis, German chancellor says it is a historic test, but ‘to slam the door is an illusion in the internet age’

Angela Merkel roundly rejected criticism of her open-door refugee policy as she pressed for EU solidarity before a Brussels summit on the crisis.



Speaking in the Bundestag in the run-up to a vote on a package of measures intended to tackle the crisis, the German leader called it a “historic test” that could not be solved by shutting out refugees.

“It’s no exaggeration to see this task as a historic test for Europe,” she told a packed Bundestag, adding that to “slam the door ... is an illusion in the internet age of the 21st century”.

While calling on politicians and authorities across Germany to pull together for “joint action on every level”, she said the country could not deal with the crisis alone, but needed the help of other European nations. “There is not a single button you can press to solve all the problems,” she said. “What is necessary is a unified European approach.”

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Germany has so far received more refugees than any other EU member state, and is set to receive an estimated 1.5 million people by the end of this year.

Merkel, who is due in Ankara at the weekend for talks with Turkish leaders, also reiterated her stance that Turkey was central to solving the crisis as it is on the main route for war refugees travelling to the EU. “There’s no doubt that Turkey plays a key role in this situation ... we won’t be able to order and stem the refugee movement without working together with Turkey,” she said.

Horst Seehofer, the head of Merkel’s Christian Democrats’ sister party, the Christian Social Union, who in recent weeks has become her fiercest critic, hit out at the chancellor again. He accused her of risking German and European stability by continuing with her policy of keeping the country open to refugees, even though they continue to arrive at a rate of thousands a day.

“Without restrictions on immigration, Germany and all of Europe will collapse spectacularly,” he told an audience in Munich, repeating his claim that the government had no specific plan to deal with the crisis, and that Merkel had lost control. “We have a responsibility for the lives of refugees,” he said, but added that Berlin was overlooking the fact that the burden was largely being carried by Bavaria – where the majority of new arrivals are entering Germany, via Austria – which had to look after them, including “providing education for the illiterate”.

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On Thursday the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, overwhelmingly approved a package of measures intended to help reduce the number of migrants coming to Germany. The details of the bill included adding Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo to the category of safe countries so that people from those lands can be turned back, and replacing monetary payments with material goods with the aim of dissuading those suspected of coming for financial gain.

Another measure experts say is vital involves allowing immediate access to integration courses and German language teaching to those whose asylum applications are being processed. Until now in most cases, such courses have officially only been available to those already granted asylum.

At a raucous town hall gathering of CDU supporters on Wednesday night, Merkel was her most candid yet in admitting that Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the second world war had taken its toll on her. “This is the biggest task I’ve faced in my life as chancellor,” she said to the crowds in Schkeuditz, near Leipzig. “I know it’s a hard situation but I will not give up.”

She has seen her popularity slide since her decision to open Germany to Syrian refugees in August. But in an interview earlier this week she said she had never let poll ratings influence her politics.

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While tens of thousands of Germans continue to show goodwill towards the refugees, working as volunteers or opening their homes to them, tensions in some parts of the country are growing.

At Schkeuditz one participant held up a placard with the slogan: “Stop the refugee chaos, preserve German culture and values. Topple Merkel.”

On Monday evening at a rally of the anti-immigrant movement Pegida in Dresden, one protester carried a mock gallows hung with a noose that was labelled “reserved for Angela ‘Mutti’ Merkel”. Police have launched an investigation.

During her Bundestag debate, Merkel briefly diverted from the refugee crisis to touch on the issue of Britain’s relationship with the EU, saying she was “convinced that an acceptable compromise” could be found to prevent Britain from leaving the union.

“It goes without saying that we will work constructively with the British government,” she said. “But it also goes without saying that there are things that are non-negotiable. There are achievements of European integration that cannot be bartered over, for example the principle of free movement and the principle of non-discrimination.”