In 2015, as Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel was responsible for triggering the migration crisis in Europe through her open-door policy. It was then that she uttered her famous words “We can manage this” – referring to the influx of migrants. Today, she maintains that “her country has made significant progress in integrating migrants” and that “this is a process that must continue.”
In an interview with public broadcaster ARD for the documentary “Merkel’s Legacy – 10 Years of ‘We Can Manage This’”, Merkel admitted that in 2015 she was aware that accepting a large number of migrants would be extremely difficult. At the same time, she noted that she had often been criticized for her statement.
“I simply wanted to say that Germany was facing a serious task. I believed in the people in our country,” she said.
Looking back, the former chancellor does not consider her decision to take in tens of thousands of migrants an excessive burden for Germany.
“Germany is a strong country. (…) I was convinced that we would be able to manage this task,” she emphasized.
At the same time, she stressed in the documentary that the alternative to accepting these people would have been the use of force. “I would never have agreed to that,” Merkel declared. She admitted, however, that her 2015 decision contributed to the rise in popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Merkel served as Germany’s chancellor from 2005 to 2021. Her political trademark became the words “We can manage this” (Wir schaffen das), which she uttered at a press conference on August 31, 2015, after it emerged that around 800,000 migrants were expected to arrive in Germany that year, with thousands already making their way from Hungary.
The current government, led by Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – Merkel’s own party – advocates for a more restrictive migration policy. According to CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann, “since 2015, 6.5 million people have come to Germany, and less than half of them are employed today.”
“I find this at the very least unsatisfactory,” Linnemann stressed, as quoted by Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. In his view, government policy in 2025 must focus on curbing the abuse of social welfare systems by illegal immigrants while supporting legal migration into the labor market.