But like most politicians Merkel does not want to be confronted with the catastrophic consequences of her actions. This has been made clear again this weekend at the state party convention of the Thuringia CDU.
Their leader shrugged off the migrant crisis she helped to create in the country. “I do not care if I’m responsible for the influx of refugees. Now they are here,” she told her party members present.
Yet Merkel’s concern about the reputation of the CDU as a “people’s party” is puzzling. Not too long ago, the chancellor surprised everyone with a new definition of the German people. “The people”, she informed her supporters in February 2017 at a party congress of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was “anyone who lives in this country”.
The delegates then responded with enthusiastic applause. Soon however, if you believe the polls, there will no longer be a majority anymore. But that does not seem to bother Merkel much.
The crumbling status of the CDU as a “people’s party” may reflect the changing demography of the country.
The population of Germany is rapidly transforming according to a new study which shows how low birthrates, high emigration, and mass immigration is changing the country.
There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of native Germans, data from a two-year study by the German Federal Statistical Office shows.
Not only has there been a strong increase of migrants coming to Germany from overseas, but also a strong trend of native Germans leaving to move abroad, Die Welt reported.
The effects are most clearly seen in western Germany where it is estimated that up to 42 percent of children under the age of six now come from a migration background.