"Not missed the mark"

Merkel: refugee policy perhaps too slow

The German ex-chancellor Angela Merkel(Bild: AFP/Gregor Fischer)

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has commented on her refugee policy from 2015 to 2021. "I don't think the refugee policy of the last ten years has been a failure," she said at an event in Hamburg.

However, there is still a lot to be done, for example in the digitalization of immigration offices and in enforcing the obligation to leave the country. "More needs to be done and perhaps we could have been quicker here and there. But missed the mark? I can't accept that," said Merkel.

Following the events in the German Bundestag last week, the democratic parties had become polarized. "A situation must now (...) be found in which compromises are possible again later." About two weeks before the general election, it does not look as if one political group will win an absolute majority. "This means that the democratic parties will have to talk to each other again."

Angela Merkel(Bild: AFP/Gregor Fischer)

"I thought it was very, very right and important that Friedrich Merz articulated in the German Bundestag on November 13, in view of the collapse of the traffic light, that he did not want to take advantage of this unclear majority situation in the German Bundestag," the former CDU leader continued.

However, she called the fact that a motion with the AfD had received a majority last week "wrong". This failed bill was aimed at tightening up migration policy. As reported, Austria's former chancellor Sebastian Kurz blamed Merkel a few days ago for the rise of the Alternative for Germany. Her migration policy had contributed to this. Merkel's political work also received poor ratings in a new survey in Germany (see video above).