Merkel Met With Taunts and Grateful Refugees in Eastern Germany
- Emotional party meeting caps a week of plaudits, criticism
- German chancellor approaches difficult fourth election bid
Germany's CDU Expects Aggressive Election Campaign
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Angela Merkel got a taste of what 2017 has in store. At an intimate town-hall setting, the German chancellor was met simultaneously with asylum seekers who wanted to shake her hand and jeering critics, including a member of her party who insisted she resign.
The charged atmosphere at the meeting in the city of Jena offers a glimpse of the obstacles standing in the way of Europe’s longest-serving leader winning a fourth term. Merkel this week embarked on a series of regional conferences for her Christian Democratic Union to defend her open-door refugee policy.