(VOVworld) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the first time admitted that Germany and the EU made major mistakes in handling the refugee crisis and announced efforts to pursue the a more judicious policy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks during ARD summer-interview in front of the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany August 28, 2016. (Photo: Reuters/Stefanie Loos)

In an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung or SZ newspaper to be published on Wednesday, Merkel said Germany and other European Union countries had turned a blind eye to displaced people for too long. She said Germany had long been content to focus on other problems after years of welcoming refugees from the wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Merkel said in 2004 and 2005, there were already many refugee arrivals, but the EU left it to Spain and others at the EU’s borders to deal with. Germany also refused necessary reforms of the EU due to concerns about encroachment on national sovereignty.

With regards to recent terrorist attacks in Germany and the EU, Merkel cautioned against equating all migrants with terrorists. She said it’s simply incorrect to say that terrorism came only with the refugees. She added that it was already present in myriad forms and with various potential attackers that the EU has been watching. She said that Germany and the EU would need patience and endurance in dealing with migration to Europe.