Germany's Merkel 'admits mistakes' over refugee crisis

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday admitted her government was unprepared by the refugee crisis and promised a better dialogue with concerned citizens amid heavy defeat of her party in state elections.

“If I could turn back time for many, many years, I would take the necessary steps together with my cabinet members and all other responsible authorities to be better prepared to the situation, which caught us rather unprepared in late summer 2015,” she told reporters in Berlin, referring to the big refugee influx that sparked security concerns among many Germans.

Merkel acknowledged that her widely criticized refugee policy was partly responsible for the heavy defeat of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Berlin state parliament elections on Sunday.

“I am the party leader, I do not shirk my responsibility. Of course I take here my share of the responsibility as party leader and chancellor,” she said.

CDU had its worst election result to date in the German capital, losing 5.7 percent of its voters and gaining 17.6 percent.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 14.2 percent of the vote, mainly with anti-refugee propaganda, reflecting an upward trend nationwide.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin after her meeting with party executives, Merkel acknowledged failures that led to uncontrolled entry of hundreds of thousands migrants to Germany last year and stressed that such incidents should not happen again.

She signaled openness to make changes to her widely criticized open-door policy for the refugees, but dismissed calls by far-right parties to deny asylum to Muslim refugees or imposing an upper-limit to the number of refugees.

“If those who demand change mean that they do not want foreigners, in particular Muslim people, their demand is in contradiction with our constitution, international legal obligations, but especially in contradiction with the ethical foundations of the CDU, and my personal convictions,” she said.

Defending open door policy for refugees who flee civil war and conflicts, Merkel underlined Germany’s international and humanitarian responsibilities.

But she argued for a more consequent approach against economic migrants who entered the country illegally.

She said a solution to the refugee crisis could only be found by addressing the root causes of the problem, enhancing cooperation between the EU and Turkey and EU states sharing the burden.

Germany has witnessed growing anti-refugee and anti-Muslim sentiment in recent years, triggered by propaganda from far-right and populist parties, which have exploited the crisis and fears of religious extremism and terrorist groups.

Europe's largest economy accepted more than one million refugees last year. Most of them were Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans.