Merkel was Germany's Chancellor for 16 years, but is for many primarily remembered for her liberal stance during the refugee crisis in 2015, when the country received up to one million asylum seekers.
Since then, both Germany and many other countries have made a complete turnaround in migration policy, and Merkel's hopeful promise on August 31, 2015, has been ridiculed by both political opponents and in her own party, not unlike the criticism Sweden's former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt received for his "Open your hearts" speech in the summer of 2014.
In a documentary on the public service channel ARD, Merkel now defends her decision to open the borders, and her statement.
It was not intended to express anything other than that we are facing a major task, she says, and admits at the same time that her line contributed to strengthening the xenophobic Alternative for Germany (AFD), which today is roughly on par with her Christian Democratic CDU/CSU in opinion polls.
Of course, my decision made people join AFD. And in that way, AFD definitely became stronger.
Despite this, she does not regret the decision, which she still sees as correct and proper at the time it was made.
Angela Merkel was Chancellor between 2005 and 2021.
