Chancellor Merkel told a conference of young members of her Christian Democrats (CDU) party that allowing people of different cultural backgrounds to live side by side without integrating had not worked.
Ms Merkel said two out of three children under the age of five have a migrant background. And while in the 1960s people were brought to Germany as guest workers – there was never an expectation that they would stay forever.
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“They live side by side with us. For a while, we lied to ourselves, saying they will disappear again one day. But that's not the reality,” she said.
“To say we are happy about living side by side... is wrong. The approach has failed, utterly failed.”
Chancellor Merkel says Germany should demand that all immigrants learn to do more to integrate.
She said this would be the only way they'd get a fair go.
