The German Chancellor’s handling of the refugee crisis has taken centre stage ahead of the September 24, Bundestag election.
Mrs Merkel announced a curb on illegal immigration, while defending her decision to take in refugees in 2015.
She told Welt am Sonntag newspaper: “Germany acted humanely and correctly in a very difficult situation. It was a question of averting a humanitarian catastrophe.”
But Ms Merkel added that the 2015 refugee crisis “should never be repeated”.
She said: “It was an emergency which none of us, including the people seeking safe haven, should ever experience again.”
She travelled to an immigration summit in Paris yesterday where she met French President Emmanuel Macron along with leaders of Spain, Italy, Niger, Chad and Libya to discuss the way forward.
The pair attempted to make strides on how to tackle the crisis of illegal immigration stemming from African countries-including Libya.
The summit was planned as fears grow there could be a new refugee influx brewing this year.
Mrs Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s doors to a large number refugees has damaged her political career and hurt her standing with the electorate.
The international community widely praised her decision in 2015 but her party, the Christian Democrats, saw its poll numbers plummet.
But her U-turn has drawn back-handed praise from one MEP.
Italian Gianni Pittella said: “After years of culpable inaction Madame Merkel has finally seen sense. Now that she’s woken up.”
However, he added: “We want to be clear: sweeping migrants under the rug further away from the European shores cannot be the solution.
“Therefore, along with a concrete long-term investment strategy for Africa to eradicate the grass root causes of migration, we reiterate our call to the European leaders to finally set up legal corridors to Europe.”
Mrs Merkel has addressed the refugee crisis just a month out from the federal elections because the issue is important to Germans who fear more migrants could travel to their country.
Her rival, Martin Schulz, has seized upon the opportunity to criticise her ill-fated open door refugee policy as he bids to take her job as chancellor after the upcoming elections.
The Social Democratic Party leader said Germany needs to take action now to prevent a re-run of 2015 when 890,000 migrants arrived in the country after Mrs Merkel opened the borders.
He said: “The numbers in Italy are worrying – thousands per day. If we don’t want a repeat of what we experienced in 2015 we need to take action now as the Italians are reaching their limit in terms of what they can do.”
Christian Lindner, leader of the liberal FDP, also called for tighter border controls on the north African coast to stop illegals crossing the Mediterranean, the Financial Times reports.
Mrs Merkel’s immigration U-turn has, so far, received mixed welcomes.
Last week, she was greeted at a campaign rally in Quedlinburg, with “Merkel must go” banners.