BERLIN, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the German city of Jena for the first European Union (EU) citizens' dialogue after her summer vacation.
Subjects discussed ranged from EU foreign policy to migration and environmental law.
EU migration policy was a key topic of the discussion. Merkel emphasized that Germany has a good system for the integration of refugees and foreigners in place. "However, we cannot accept that 20 to 30 percent do not participate in the integration process," explained Merkel.
The "Integration Master Plan" defined for this purpose sought to address this problem. "There are very few similarities between European countries, for example with regard to integration through education," says Merkel, "everyone does his own thing in that respect."
Turning to environmental policy, Merkel asserted that "the European Union is in a position to hold its own." EU standards and the unified environmental policy were very strict and had already achieved a lot, according to the German chancellor.
"However, we still have a lot to do in Germany," admitted Merkel. Germany was last condemned by the European Court of Justice on July 21, 2018 for high nitrate levels in its groundwater due to excessive use of liquid manure/slurry in agriculture.
Merkel acknowledged that the EU was laborious, especially when it comes to finding compromises between the currently 28 member states. "Politicians have the bad habit of blaming the EU for things that do not work, even though they participate in the European process themselves," the chancellor explained. In addition, negative reporting would overshadow the EU's success.
According to Merkel, the EU stood for common values, such as the preservation of human dignity and the protection of minorities. "In the future we will have to talk more about what democracy means in the EU," the German chancellor concluded.
