Under pressure, Merkel to drastically reduce refugee arrivals in Germany

Signalling a compromise to the critics of her open-door policy from within her conservatives on the eve of a party congress, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she wanted to drastically reduce the number of refugees coming to Germany.

Ms Merkel has resisted pressure from allies within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to put a cap on the number of refugees entering Germany, which is expected to top 1 million this year. “At the same time we took on board the concerns of the people, who are worried about the future, and this means we want to reduce, we want to drastically decrease the number of people coming to us,” Ms Merkel said.

Ms Merkel’s popularity in the country has fallen over her handling of the refugee crisis. She said the word “limit” did not feature in the CDU’s main resolution which will be debated at the two-day party congress starting on December 14 in the southern city of Karlsruhe. The strategy of Ms Merkel also includes finding a solution to the migration crisis on the EU level, where she is meeting resistance from member states opposed to a quota system to distribute refugees. Chancellor Merkel has been named as Times Person of the Year due to her achievement in leading Europe in a time of crisis and her humanitarian handling of the refugee problem.

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