German Chancellor Angela Merkel Markus Tedeskino Germany's leading newspaper, BILD, has published an exclusive interview with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Publishing Director BILD, Kai Diekmann, as well as Editors-in-Chief Tanit Koch and Julian Reichelt met Europe's most influential political leader in her office in the German capital of Berlin. In a freewheeling conversation, Merkel talked pointedly about refugees, selfies, and the integration of immigrants.

In partnership with BILD, Business Insider has published an English translation below.

BILD: Chancellor Merkel, on 4 September 2015, you made the far-reaching decision to allow several thousand refugees to enter the country when Hungary was no longer able to cope with the influx. Knowing what you know today – would you do the same thing again?

Angela Merkel: Yes, I would. At that point, the number of people arriving had already been rising for months. Even before 4 September, it was clear that we were facing a great challenge. At that weekend, the point was not to open the borders for everybody – but rather not to close them for those people who, out of great humanitarian need, had started their trek to us from Hungary on foot.

BILD: In fact, thousands of people understood your decision as an invitation and encouragement to begin their trek in the first place.

Merkel: No, because the Minister of the Interior had already predicted in mid-August that we would have to expect 800,000 refugees in 2015. This prognosis was then, indeed, misused, for instance by traffickers in Afghanistan – who claimed that Germany would accept 800,000 Afghans. Many people subsequently misunderstood this. It showed how a necessary prognosis directed at the counties and communes here in Germany can be twisted elsewhere and how carefully you have to handle such information in a world of global communication.

BILD: Do you regret any decision you made at that time?

Merkel: No. In August 2015, I already publicly demanded that we need an EU-Africa summit, that we have to talk to Turkey, and that we have to fight the causes of flight. Unfortunately, it is true that there had been shortcomings in providing for the people in the refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. The food provisions were cut due to shortage of money. This must never happen again. Turkey with its approximately 3 million refugees was left alone by us for too long. This is why the agreement between the EU and Turkey was, and is, so important. It is the only way to stop the traffickers and to be in a better position to help people.

Merkel: "It is common here to shake each other’s hand." Markus Tedeskino

BILD: Would it have been better if there had been no friendly selfie pictures of you with refugees?

Merkel: Nobody makes the difficult decision to put himself and his family in the hands of traffickers, to spend a lot of money on this, and to risk his life, on the basis of a selfie.

BILD: Due to the suspension of the Dublin Agreement, refugees could, de facto, decide which country they wanted to live in. Most decided in favor of Germany, with its welfare and generous benefits …

Merkel: First, Germany is a very attractive country, anyway. This is not only due to economic reasons, but also humanitarian reasons. The decisive question is how to deal with this. Seclusion is not a sensible option. Second, Sweden and Austria have temporarily accepted more refugees per capita of the population than we did. Third, back then, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees was under pressure to process an extremely high amount of applications as quickly as possible. The FOMR did not simply suspend the Dublin Agreement. Germany used its explicit right to abstain from returning the refugees to Hungary.

BILD: Did you know of the FOMR’s decision in advance?

Merkel: No.

BILD: What do you say to your critics who accuse you of breaking the law with your decision of 4 September?

Merkel: That this is not correct. Legally, we were moving within the given margins of discretion. Politically, the freedom in the Schengen Area was, and is, important.

BILD: Our European neighbors perceived your actions in the refugee crisis one year ago as a solo effort. Is that the reason why Europe is letting us down concerning the distribution of refugees?

Merkel: No, because Europe as a whole has, for a long time, refused to recognize the drama of the refugee crisis. At no point was there any sufficient readiness in Europe to really agree on a fair distribution of the refugees. We have now made progress, fortunately, due to the EU-Turkey Agreement and the increased support for the EU border protection agency Frontex. All of us have understood that we have to better protect the EU’s external borders and to fight the causes of flight.

BILD: Could you ever have imagined that the EU would fail so miserably given such a great challenge? Has the wave of refugees buried the European project under itself?

Merkel: Step by step, Europe has to learn how to assert itself in a globalized world. For us Germans, in particular, globalization has created great opportunities and considerable wealth. But globalization also has its downsides that mean difficult learning processes for us. Think of the financial crisis: we only realized that we were not prepared for this, once the first assaults on the Euro started. A multitude of measures was required to protect the common currency. With the refugee crisis, globalization is also hitting us hard: Europe has created a space of freedom – but are we capable of protecting this space? Everyone is prepared to protect their national borders, but what do we do about the external borders, especially those at sea? So Europe has not generally failed, but it is going through obviously difficult learning processes.

Editor-in-Chief Tanit Koch, Publishing Director BILD, Kai Diekmann, Editor-in-Chief Julian Reichelt (from left), Merkel: "Germany is a very attractive country." Markus Tedeskino BILD: Solidarity is not a one-way street. Why not simply cut EU funds for refugee holdouts like Hungary or Poland?

Merkel: I am not somebody who always thinks immediately of punishment. We have created a common European Agenda on Migration. Everyone has to contribute to it. It is therefore important that, for example, Poland participates in protecting the external borders, in the NATO mission in the Aegean, and in foreign aid. The question of who should take in how many refugees needs further discussion.

BILD: Your mantra has always been: protect the external borders, distribute the refugees fairly, fight the causes of flight. However, the war in Syria is raging worse than ever. A fair distribution is out of sight. We let Turkey protect the EU’s external border. Surely this means a failure in every respect?

Merkel: I don’t agree. With the EU-Turkey Agreement, we managed to stem the traffickers’ activities and to save human lives – which is our most important aim. Concerning the fight against causes of flight, we made progress insofar as we support Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan in taking care of the refugees. The food rations are secured, and an increasing number of children can go to school. However, we also know that the number of migrants has now reached the highest level world-wide since the Second World War. Fighting the causes of flight is not Europe’s task alone. It is the entire world’s humanitarian responsibility. It is also in the nature of things that we can only protect our Mediterranean external borders in cooperation with the opposite countries – regardless of whether that is Libya, Turkey, or Egypt. Someone who is ignoring this fact is kidding himself. And yes, the terrible civil war in Syria is not over. Even though IS could be driven out of major cities in Syria and Iraq, the fight against these murderous terrorists and the Assad regime still rages on. This is a complete catastrophe.

BILD: Concerning the refugee deal, do you feel comfortable being dependent on someone like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

Merkel: First of all, I consider the word ‘deal’ to be entirely inappropriate in this context. We are talking about an extensive agreement of the EU with Turkey that is in our mutual interest, so there is no one-sided dependency. We are responsible for helping Turkey in sheltering refugees, close to their home countries. Turkey, at the same time, cannot be interested in people drowning in the Aegean every day and traffickers and other criminals taking hold of Turkish coastal towns. It is in the interest of both parties – the EU and Turkey – to establish legality.

BILD: What if Erdogan were to abort the deal over the visa question? He has set an ultimatum until October.

Merkel: The European Union is willing to fulfill its part of the refugee agreement. I assume this is also true of Turkey. We agreed on an acceleration of the already negotiated visa liberalization – if Turkey fulfills all of the necessary criteria. Many of these are already fulfilled, but not all of them.

BILD: Was it the deal with Turkey or, in truth, the decision of the countries along the Balkans route to close their borders that stemmed the refugee influx to Germany so massively?

Merkel: As has often been said before, of course closing the Macedonian-Greek border initially led to fewer refugees arriving in Germany. However, it has also led to approximately 45,000 migrants stranding in Greece in the weeks between the closing of the Balkans route and the agreement with Turkey coming into force. Converted to the total population of Germany, this would have been 360,000 refugees within one month. You can figure out what that meant for Greece – a country that has almost exhausted its possibilities, anyway. It would not have been possible to leave Greece on its own with this problem. This is why the EU-Turkey Agreement is the key to overcoming the trafficking in the Aegean and to stabilizing the situation in Greece. We have accomplished a lot, but the crisis is far from being solved. For instance, by now, only 3,000 refugees have been distributed from Greece to the European member states. Many refugees are still arriving in Italy. However, now they are all properly registered.

BILD: With the Ansbach and Würzburg attacks, the worst fears have become reality: that, among the refugees, Islamist terrorists could also have entered the country. Can you understand why many citizens are saying: “We will manage” – this is no longer good enough for us?

Merkel: The idea that “we will manage” highlights that this was, and is, a particularly great challenge and that we are motivated and want to overcome any obstacles on our way. For a long time now, Germany has been exposed to the threat of Islamist terrorism – not only since Ansbach and Würzburg. We know that jihadists from Germany, too, went to Syria, were trained by IS and then, partly, also returned here. Moreover, we know that not all refugees came here with good intentions. In general, we have to be very vigilant, since Islamist terrorism represents great challenges for our security services. However, we should never forget that the vast majority of Syrians and Iraqis fled to us from war and terror and oppose violence and extremism as much as we do. I still understand that many people are concerned after Würzburg and Ansbach. We are therefore facing two great tasks: on the one hand, we have to integrate everyone who will stay with us for a longer period of time or permanently. We also have to demand that they are willing to integrate. On the other hand, we have to do everything that is possible to fight Islamist terrorism and to prevent attacks.

BILD: How is your sleep when you think of the fact that our security services do not even know the identity of thousands of refugees?

Merkel: The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is working very hard on gaining a complete overview of the registrations very soon. However, we should also not forget that there were attackers who were already registered as refugees. This fact has shown us that the simple Eurodac registration is not enough – it has to be combined with other databases, such as the Schengen Information System, where criminal and terrorist activities are registered. The Ansbach and Würzburg attacks – whose offenders were properly registered – have also shown that we need better early warning systems. On the European level, we should start working on an electronic entry control system modeled on the US system. This means that – regardless of whether they travel visa-free or not – anyone who enters a European country and who leaves again is registered, so that you know exactly who has not left and is still somewhere in the Schengen Area.

BILD: Does the thought scare you that Africa contains a potential of migrants that exceeds the Syrian war refugees by several millions? What if these people set off to Europe – to Germany?

Merkel: I think it is essential to improve the economic prospects of this continent with its population of 1.3 billion and to cooperate with the countries there. This is why the EU wants to enter migration partnerships with important countries of origin, and transit countries, such as Niger or Mali.

BILD: Many citizens are concerned that your care for the refugees makes you lose sight of the population’s worries. One popular example: is it okay if a pensioner in Germany receives less from the state than what, for instance, an unattended, underage refugee costs?

Angela Merkel in her office in Berlin. Markus Tedeskino Merkel: The difference between pensions and youth welfare expenses applies not only to refugees, but also to German underage children, for instance those who need to stay in a youth shelter. The Federal Constitutional Court has determined standards and guidelines for minimum provisions for refugees. We comply with these and have not cut anybody’s benefits in Germany because of the refugee aid. On the contrary, over the last few years, there were several social improvements. We were able to finance all of this, because of our longstanding, responsible fiscal policy. So there is no reason for jealous debates.

BILD: … but reason to be worried?

Merkel: Given the good economic situation, we can manage the challenges. Let us not forget: if the refugees’ integration succeeds, both sides will profit. Of course it is also true that those who seek protection with us have to follow our rules. They have to accept our laws and our constitution and have to try to find training and employment in order to contribute to our country. In most cases, this starts with participating in integration courses.

Essentially, the point is: we are a country that puts the dignity of every single human being at the center of things. And if you are facing a humanitarian catastrophe like the one in Syria, you have to take a stand. It is perfectly obvious that last year cannot simply be repeated. This is why we took all those measures I have described. It was right to take this humanitarian responsibility seriously and to still take it seriously. In doing so, we did not take anything away from anybody in this country. We are still fulfilling the task of politics to maintain the quality of life of the people in Germany and to improve it, and we are still as good at this as before.

BILD: What we did indeed manage is primary help for over one million people. The bigger challenge is yet to come: how do we integrate that many people from an entirely different culture, after having failed, to a large degree, in many aspects of this task over the past decades?

Merkel: Fortunately, we have learned a lot from the past, primarily that language is the key to successful integration. The younger people are, the easier it is for integration to succeed. It is worth facing this effort. I would like to use the opportunity to thank everybody who is working towards the success of this integration. This is not only the state authorities, but primarily the countless associations, initiatives, and voluntary helpers.

BILD: What would you say to a Muslim who does not want to shake your hand?

Merkel: I would talk to him about the fact that it is common here to shake each other’s hand.

BILD: One year ago, euphoria and a welcome culture prevailed. Now this is superseded by a deep skepticism. Do you think that the majority of Germans still supports your refugee policy?

Merkel: In politics, there are always decisions that one has to make without carrying out an opinion poll first. With the results of our work, of course I hope to, in the long term, convince as many people as possible that our way is the right one. Incidentally, when I ask about the retirement age of 67, I still have no majority today, even though it remains an appropriate and necessary measure.

BILD: Why do you struggle telling the Germans whether you will run for Chancellorship in 2017 or not?

Merkel: You can ask all you want – I will communicate my decision at the right point in time. (smiles)