German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed, at a party meeting of her party on Monday evening, concern that closing the German border to refugees could provoke new armed conflicts in the Balkans.
– If Germany closes its borders to Austria, there will be divisions in the Balkans, said Angela Merkel at the party meeting of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Darmstadt on Monday evening, as reported by the media on Tuesday.
Merkel explained that she, out of fear of new conflicts in the Balkans and „the tensions caused by the river of refugees“, initiated a recent European Union conference on the so-called Balkan route.
– I did this because I do not want armed conflicts to arise there again, explained the Chancellor and CDU president at the regional congress of the party base in Darmstadt.
Merkel explained how Hungary’s closing of its border and redirecting the refugee route through Croatia and Slovenia showed that „it takes little“ for tensions and conflicts to arise.
– I do not want to be a pessimist, but it is happening faster than we think. From a quarrel, a conflict arises, and from that, something can develop that no one wants, said Merkel, explaining to the party base her policy of openness towards refugees and above all why it would be wrong, as some parts of her party demand, for Germany to close its borders.
The German Chancellor explained that it is Germany’s duty as the largest member of the European Union to find a humane solution to the refugee crisis.
– I am quite sure that we can do this, said Merkel.
