Angela Merkel to continue refugee policy

Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to press on with her refugee policy despite seeing her Christian Democrats (CDU) party punished by voters who flocked to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Sunday’s three regional polls.

The electoral setbacks came just as Merkel is trying to convince her EU partners to seal a deal with Turkey to stem the tide of refugees, which has already dwindled as countries along the main route have unilaterally shut borders and erected fences.

Merkel, who has staked her reputation on a thus-far elusive European solution to the crisis, came under renewed pressure from her Bavarian allies to make Germany’s border less porous, but refused to buckle.

“Yesterday was a difficult day for the CDU,” she said after a party meeting to assess the damage from the polls. “Without a doubt, we have come a long way toward solving the refugee issue, but we still don’t have a sustainable solution. I am fully convinced that we need a European solution, and that this solution needs time.”

Merkel alarmed many European leaders last week by gambling on a last-minute draft deal with Turkey to stop the migrant flow, and must win their support at a summit later this week to cement the controversial plan.

She can at least look to recent opinion polls, including one that had her personal approval rating hitting its highest level this year, at 50%, just after the draft agreement with Turkey.

Some commentators also pointed out that the CDU’s candidates in the western states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland- Palatinate both moved to the right by pressing for tougher migration policies, only to be beaten by Green and Social Democrat rivals who stuck closer to Merkel’s line.

However, Germans undeniably want the issue fixed quickly. Many think their country cannot cope with an influx that saw more than a million refugees enter last year after Merkel decided to open the borders to those fleeing war in Syria.

That angst saw them turn to the AfD on Sunday. The party took around a quarter of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, where it became the second biggest party, and made hefty gains to enter the regional assemblies of the other two states.