In what the local press has dubbed an “astonishing U-turn”, during a 77 minute speech by Angela Merkel, interrupted by minutes of standing ovations, the German chancellor pledged to strengthen the forces of law and order while speeding up the sclerotic deportation process of failed asylum seekers. But what stunned listeners was Merkel’s pledge toban the burka saying “show your face. The full covering is not permissible and should be banned wherever it is legally possible.”
The German Chancellor told delegates at the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) two-day party congress held in the western German town of Essen, where moments ago she was reelected with 89.5% of the vote, that German law “takes precedence” over the Islamic code of Sharia.
Merkel was presenting her political program and also launched her bid for another term as CDU leader and German chancellor.
She went on to call “security and order, justice and law” some of the pillars of the CDU’s political agenda, and stressed that “all Germans who always lived here as well as those who just arrived” should observe the law.
Angela Merkel at the CDU conference said she wanted to ban the burka
“Here in Germany … the laws of our country… are applied equally to everyone without any exception,” the chancellor stressed. There should be no parallel societies, Merkel added, emphasizing that “German law takes precedence over Sharia.” The chancellor also promised that she would do her best to avoid a recurrence of the 2015 refugee crisis. “We have repeatedly stated that that situation that occurred in late summer, 2015, cannot, should not, and will not be repeated,” she told party delegates.
Merkel assured the CDU members that “not everyone out of the 890,000 people who came here last year can and will stay.” At the same time, she said that every refugee case should be regarded as an isolated instance “and not as a part of some crowd.” She also defended the refugee deal between the EU and Turkey that has provoked controversy in Europe. This agreement remains “decisive” for successful reconciliation of the refugee crisis, the chancellor said, stressing that the deal “saves lives every day.”
Merkel criticized other European countries for not doing enough to resolve the refugee crisis. She said she is not satisfied with the level of cooperation between the EU members in dealing with the challenge, and called for “more solidarity” within the bloc.
In her congress speech, Merkel also sharply criticized the various anti-immigrant, anti-Islamist and right-wing populist movements that have gained traction in Germany amid the refugee crisis (which many say she unleashed). She also criticised the groundswell of internet hate against migrants and said that often had the opinion that those who wrote them needed an “integration course” more than the newcomers.
Merkel said she had “an impression that it is those who live in Germany for a long time who urgently need to attend some integration courses,” rather than the migrants. She also called on everyone in the country to make an effort and reach “a certain level of culture of discussion.”
She particularly slammed “aggressiveness” and “hate messages” posted online, adding that the internet “must not become a space free of legal regulation” and repeated a call for online internet media companies to better police hate speech. She added that tasteless online attacks shocked and sickened her.
Merkel went on to condemn the aspirations of some anti-immigrant movements to act as the “representatives of the German people.” She particularly attacked the ‘We are the people!’ slogan used by the German ‘anti-Islamization’ movement Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West).
“It is only the whole nation that can decide who ‘the people’ are. We all decide it and not some marginal groups, irrespective of how vocal they are,” Merkel said.
Finally, she said she recognized that the general election of next year was like “none other” and that it would not be “like swallowing a sugar drop.” She pledged a stronger Europe, a stronger economic base for Germany and a stronger commitment to achieving peace in Syria. At the end of it she was rewarded with a standing ovation of over 11 minutes.
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Moments after the speech, Merkel was re-elected as CDU party chairwoman with 89.5% support from delegates, which nonetheless was the lowest of Merkel’s chancellorship: her support fells from 96.7% during the last such vote in 2014. According to Bloomberg, Merkel’s lowest-ever support was 88.4% in 2004, the year before she took office; highest level was 97.9% in 2012.
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