Merkel: 'Germany will remain Germany' after migrant influx
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a joint news conference as part of a meeting with the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) (The Associated Press)
Chancellor Angela Merkel says the influx of migrants won't fundamentally change Germany, a year after she first insisted that "we will manage" the refugee crisis.
Merkel said in an interview with the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published Wednesday that her mantra — which has divided opinion in Germany — remains "the right motif for this task."
On Sept. 4 last year, a few days after she first used it, she and Austria's then-chancellor decided to let in migrants who had piled up in Hungary. Germany registered over a million newcomers last year, though the actual number is believed to be lower, and the influx has unsettled many residents.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Merkel was quoted as saying that "Germany will remain Germany, with everything that is dear to us."