German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Monday to "tangibly" stem a massive refugee influx to quell a rebellion in her conservative ranks but firmly rebuffed calls to slam the door shut.
At a pivotal party congress of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Merkel said Germany would pursue a range of measures to stanch the flow of asylum seekers, slated to nearly one million people this year. But, after weeks of damaging infighting in which the right wing of the party demanded an upper limit on newcomers, Merkel insisted that Germany would continue to live up to its "humanitarian responsibilities.""We want to tangibly reduce the number of refugees arriving," Merkel said to a chorus of applause. "With a focused approach at the German, European and global level, we will succeed in regulating and limiting migration."
However, she said that Germany had a "moral and political" duty as Europe's top economic power to continue to help the world's desperate people, particularly those from war-ravaged Syria. "We will live up to our humanitarian responsibility," she said. Ahead of an EU summit this week, Merkel said she was banking on a multi-pronged approach to cut refugee numbers, urging bolstered protection for the bloc's external borders, working with Turkey to host refugees long-term, and a long-shot bid for a distribution scheme among EU member states.
The gathering of around 1,000 delegates in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe was viewed as one of the most important of Merkel's 15-year tenure at the helm of the party. After weeks of internal debate, the CDU carefully staged a show of unity ahead of three key state elections in March and the impending decision coming next year which will determine whether or not Merkel will stand for a fourth term in the 2017 general election. The majority of migrants come from the Middle East and Africa. The turmoil in the Middle East and the five-year war in Syria have led many people to flee the conflict in an attempt to seek security and shelter in a more prosperous and peaceful country, such as one in Europe. However, Europe has been slammed for lacking a collaborative response to the crisis.
