Election: Merkel links migrant crisis to CDU defeat

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has accepted responsibility for her Christian Democratic party’s “bitter defeat” in Berlin state elections. She voiced regret over mistakes that contributed to last summer’s migrant crisis in Germany. More than a million migrants reached Germany – a record. “If I could, I would turn back time for many, many years, to […]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has accepted responsibility for her Christian Democratic party’s “bitter defeat” in Berlin state elections.
She voiced regret over mistakes that contributed to last summer’s migrant crisis in Germany. More than a million migrants reached Germany – a record.
“If I could, I would turn back time for many, many years, to prepare better,” she told reporters.
Her CDU party can no longer run Berlin with the Social Democrats (SPD).
The centre-right CDU won 17.6% of the vote – its worst-ever result in Berlin.
Mrs Merkel conceded that her open-door policy towards migrants – embodied in her phrase “wir schaffen das” (we can manage it) – was a factor in the election. She has now distanced herself from that phrase, calling it “a sort of simplified motto”.
She has been widely criticised in Germany for the policy, which was a humanitarian gesture faced with the desperate plight of migrants, many of them refugees from the war in Syria.