ESSEN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed populists seeking to exploit the country's refugee influx while she set down a tough line on integration which included a ban on the burqa. She stressed it was legitimate for Germany to expect newcomers to integrate and this included a rejection of the full face veil.
"The full-face veil must be banned wherever it is legally possible," she told the annual gathering of her centre-right Christian Democratic Union party. Speaking to a party congress of her Union, she made an impassioned appeal to 1,000 CDU delegates saying, "You must help me. No one, not even someone with great experience, can change things for the good in Germany, in Europe, in the world more or less on their own-certainly not a chancellor of Germany." She was later re-elected head of the party by 89.5 per cent of the delegates present, down from 96.7 per cent two years ago. Merkel announced in November her decision to seek a fourth term next autumn.
Speaking to her party members, she began her speech with a promise not to allow a repetition of last year's migrant influx, when nearly 900,000 migrants came into Germany. She drew cheers when she said the Muslim-full face veil was not compatible with German culture. "Here we say 'show your face'. So full veiling is not appropriate here. It should be prohibited wherever legally possible," she said. Last year, the CDU rejected such a ban, admitting that many people felt the world was "going off the rails." Merkel said, "We are faced with a world, especially after the US election, that needs to re-order itself, with regard to Nato and the relationship with Russia."
