Merkel urges Germans to see refugees as ‘an opportunity’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel used her New Year’s address to urge Germans to view refugee arrivals to the country as “an opportunity for tomorrow”.

“It is important that we not let ourselves be divided,” Merkel said in a pre-released text of her speech. “Not into generations, not into social groups, and not into those that are already here and those that are new citizens.”

Germany has accepted over a million refugees in 2015, and Merkel told the public to brace for similar hardships in the new year. However, she insisted that it would all be worthwhile in the end because “countries have always benefitted from successful immigration, both economically and socially”.

With a view to right-wing populists and xenophobic street rallies, she said “it’s important we don’t allow ourselves to be divided”.

“It is crucial not to follow those who, with coldness or even hatred in their hearts, lay a sole claim to what it means to be German and seek to exclude others.”

Germany took in almost 1.1 million asylum seekers this year, five times 2014’s total, the Säechsische Zeitung regional daily reported on Wednesday citing unpublished official figures.

Faced with opposition in her conservative party and popular concerns about the influx, Merkel has pledged steps to reduce numbers in 2016.

Her plan involves convincing other EU countries to take in more refugees, so far with little success, and an EU deal with gateway country Turkey to better protect its borders.

“There has rarely been a year in which we were challenged so much to follow up our words with deeds,” Merkel said, while thanking volunteers and police, soldiers and administrators for “doing far, far more than their duty”.