‘It’s not so easy, believe me’ Angela Merkel insists integration a ‘big task’ for refugees

The German Chancellor outlined her vision for refugee and asylum rules in a speech in Wuerzburg, Germany, on Monday.

Mrs Merkel sympathised with refugees not being able to “immediately understand everything” after saying it was necessary for those refused the right of residence, according to German law, to leave the country.

She said: "Those who have the right to stay, at least for a designated period of time, the big task is the integration.

“As well here we have brought forward a lot, we have shown openness and readiness for rapprochement. This readiness has to be there on both of the sides.

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Angela Merkel also said she wanted to protect "legal order"

I always say that if I came to Germany from Syria or Afghanistan, I probably couldn't immediately understand everything either

Angela Merkel

“I always say that if I came to Germany from Syria or Afghanistan, I probably couldn't immediately understand everything either, how everything is organised and governed here, it is not so easy, believe me.

“It wasn't so easy even after the German unification to copy everything instantly, how things are done here."

The German leader spoke of “peaceful coexistence” and protecting the country’s “legal order”.

“Naturally, Germany is a country into which a lot of people flee and want to come [to] because we have order, legal order, which secures justice and human dignity,” she said.

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Germany accepted more than a million migrants in 2015

“Those who come here to us hold this legal order, our constitution, and understand that freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, protection of citizens and people, requires not only tolerance but also respect from each person.

“Only with this respect towards our order, a peaceful coexistence is possible."

Mrs Merkel also admitted Germany was facing a “difficult task” but said help and support had to be given to those in need in a “state of law”.

She added: “But in order to be able to continue doing so further, we need to say to those who after constitutional proceedings have not been allowed right of residence, that they need to leave our country again.

“That belongs to the regulation and governing of the process as well. We have learnt together in the politics, that the faster we decide, the better it is for the people concerned.”

The comments come after more than a million migrants were allowed to enter Germany in 2015.

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