Germany halts asylum proceedings for Syrians – DW – 12/09/2024

A day after the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, debate began in Germany about the possible return of Syrian migrants and asylum-seekers to their home country.

Senior leaders of Germany’s opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), suggested encouraging Syrians to return to their homeland.

“As a first step, I would say that we are making an offer. How about the German government saying: anyone who wants to go back to Syria, we’ll charter planes for them and give them a starting payment of €1,000 ($1,060),” Jens Spahn, a prominent CDU politician, told broadcaster RTL/ntv on Monday morning.

Spahn, a former health minister, said Germany should also push for an international conference on rebuilding Syria along with Turkey, Austria and Jordan.

The debate, however, has also drawn criticism, particularly from politicians from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the environmentalist Greens.

SPD politician Michael Roth warned against engaging in such a discussion, saying that it’s too early to say what the future holds for the war-ravaged nation.

Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a Green politician, shares a similar view.

“After a day and a half, I find this an inappropriate domestic policy debate,” Göring-Eckardt told rbb radio in Berlin.

If Syria becomes a safe country, people should and will return, but that debate should wait until order and stability are restored in the country, she said.  “We should support everything that goes in the direction of freedom, stability and democratic conditions in Syria.”