Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a confident note as she outlined challenges facing Germany on Tuesday, less than four weeks ahead of an election in which her conservative party’s victory is seen as a foregone conclusion.
Speaking at her annual press conference, Merkel addressed the refugee crisis, Germany’s fraught relationship with Turkey and euro zone fiscal policy, while sweeping aside questions about her departure from politics and complaints of a boring election campaign.
“For me, it is not boring, it is exciting and interesting,” Merkel said about her campaign against Martin Schulz of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), adding that she rejected the notion “that a campaign is only good if people insult one another.”
Twelve years into her tenure, Merkel and her Christian Democrats (CDU) are currently polling 13 percentage points ahead of the centre-left SPD. Former EU bureaucrat Schulz began the year in a virtual tie with the chancellor but has since lost momentum.
“I mentioned Martin Schulz a few times today so no one would accuse me of not talking about him,” Merkel said with a smile as she responded to a question about her neglecting to acknowledge Schulz’s increasingly aggressive campaign tactics.
In an interview with public broadcaster ARD last week, Schulz referred to Merkel as “out of touch,” as well as accusing her of shying away from a real debate when she refused to approve a format change to a TV debate that was meant to allow for more spontaneity.
Merkel batted away a question about that charge, saying merely that she looked forward to the debate with Schulz, which is taking place on Sunday.
Merkel defended her decision two years ago to allow hundreds of thousands of stranded migrants to enter Germany, saying that it had been a “humanitarian exception” and “not the basis for a long-term strategy.”
She used the opportunity to take a tougher stance on migration-related security, calling on the European Commission to extend border controls within the bloc.
“We need these border controls,” Merkel said, adding that she would discuss an extension with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission.
Border checks inside Europe’s free-travel zone were put in place by several countries in the wake of the migrant crisis, but the European Commission said in May it seeks to phase them out.
Merkel also turned her attention to fraying ties between Berlin and Ankara, saying the two countries are in “a very complicated phase of our relationship.”
Turning to euro zone reform, Merkel acknowledged a suggestion by French President Emmanuel Macron to install an economy minister to oversee the 19 European Union members that are part of the sharedeuro currency. — dpa
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