German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her open-door refugee policy Tuesday, saying the decision to let large numbers of migrants in was “important and right.”
Merkel is cruising toward re-election in September after overcoming criticism of her handling of the migrant crisis. More than one million people have arrived in the country since the start of 2015, but Merkel has no regrets over the decision to let them in.
“It was important and right that we took people in back then in this exceptional situation, and is also right that we must find long-term, sustainable structures,” Merkel told reporters Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
The chancellor has repeatedly said that another emergency situation shouldn’t be allowed to happen again, but if it did, she wouldn’t change any of the major decisions she made in 2015.
“All important decisions of the year 2015 I would make again,” Merkel said Sunday in an interview with newspaper Welt. “At that time, Germany had acted in a very difficult and humane manner. I am convinced of this, and at the same time I say that the year 2015 should not be repeated, it was an emergency situation that we should never experience again, even the refugees.”
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