Merkel urges nation to accept influx of refugees
Date
12/31/2015 9:07:04 AM
(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BERLIN Dec 31 (KUNA) - In a New Year's address to the nation to be broadcast later today (Thursday) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would use the record influx of refugees to the nation's advantage and urged citizens to reject social conflict fomented by nationalists with "hate in their hearts." In the speech devoted to the impact of the refugee crisis Merkel said coping with migration will cost Germany "time effort and money." But if handled right the challenges of today will be the opportunities of tomorrow she said.Merkel pressed home the point that she's determined to treat the influx as a chance to modernize and rejuvenate the German economy a stance that's won her international accolades while eroding her poll ratings at home. "Next year is about one thing in particular: our cohesion" Merkel said. "It is important not to follow those who with coldness or even hate in their hearts want to claim Germanness solely for themselves and exclude others." Merkel's popularity among voters declined since last summer as she insisted "we will make it" through the refugee crisis an assertion she repeated in her speech which will be widely televised later on today.With Germany facing an influx of one million or more asylum seekers this year about half of them fleeing civil war in Syria the chancellor has rejected calls from within her Christian Democratic-led bloc to cap the number of migrants. (end) ang.ajs
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