Merkel to call for calm, unity in New Year’s address

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to call for national unity and calm in the face of terrorism in her New Year’s address on Saturday.

According to an advance copy of the speech obtained by Bloomberg, Merkel will laud togetherness and defend her lenient refugee program that has been highly criticized by her opponents in the wake of recent terrorist acts in Germany.

“As we pursue our lives and our work, we tell the terrorists: They are murderers full of hatred, but it’s not they who determine how we live and want to live,” Merkel is expected to say. “We are free, humane, open. Together, we are stronger. Our state is stronger.”

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Merkel is also expected to underscore the importance for the open-border policy that let in nearly one million refugees from war-ridden Syria.

“With the images of the bombed in Aleppo in Syria, one may say once again how important and right it was that our country in the past year allowed those who actually need our help to be here with us, to take a step and to integrate,” Merkel will say, according to Financial Times.

“All this — it is reflected in our democracy, in our state, in our values.”

Merkel’s New Year’s speech comes as the German leader attempts to secure another term as chancellor in the upcoming election in 2017.

Her immigration policies have also come under fire from the right factions of her own party, as well as multiple other right-leaning political groups.

The speech comes at a time of mourning for many Germans after a suspected terrorist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin on Dec. 19, killing 12 people.