Germany starts Syrian migration debate after Assad's fall

Days after the collapse of President Bashar Assad's regime in Syria, a debate has erupted in Germany over the possible return of Syrian migrants and asylum-seekers to their homeland.

In Germany, prominent figures on the right, from the conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), have been quick to suggest plans encouraging Syrians to return home.

More left-leaning voices from the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, the two remaining parties in Germany's now-minority government coalition, have cautioned against drastic action.

There are 974,136 Syrian nationals currently living in Germany, according to the German Interior Ministry. Some 712,000 of them have been granted refugee status, which includes asylum-seekers with pending applications and asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected but who have been granted temporary protection on humanitarian grounds.

The vast majority arrived in Germany between 2015 and 2016 under former Chancellor Angela Merkel who famously coined the phrase: "Wir schaffen das" or "we can do it" in response to their arrival.

On Monday, Germany's Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) announced it would temporarily freeze ruling on asylum applications from Syrian citizens — as did authorities in Austria, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Incentives for Syrian refugees to leave?

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said, "The end of the brutal tyranny of the Syrian dictator Assad is a great relief for many people who have suffered from torture, murder and terror."

She added: "Many refugees who have found protection in Germany now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland and rebuilding their country."

Former Health Minister Jens Spahn, a senior figure in the opposition CDU, which is currently leading the polls ahead of February's expected federal elections, took this as an invitation to suggest offering financial incentives for Syrian refugees to leave Germany.

"As a first step, I would say that we make an offer," he told broadcaster RTL/ntv on Monday. "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)."

Markus Söder, Bavaria's state premier and chair of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), said that even Syrians with officially recognized asylum status should be offered "incentives" to leave.

"Germany has offered refuge to many people in need," he told the "Table Briefings" podcast on Tuesday. "When the situation changes and the reason for asylum effectively ceases to exist, then there's no legal reason to stay in the country."

CDU demands echoed by AfD and BSW

Söder's comments were echoed by Alice Weidel of the far-right AfD, which has been officially categorized as a "suspected extremist" organization by Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), since February 2021.

"For many people from Syria, the reason to flee no longer exists," she told Stern magazine. "Obviously, these people should promptly return to their homeland."

Referring to joyous scenes of celebrations among Syrians in German cities since the toppling of Assad, Weidel repeated on social media: "Anyone in Germany who celebrates 'free Syria' evidently no longer has any reason to flee. They should return to Syria immediately."

Sahra Wagenknecht, a former communist whose eponymous new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has been described as "left-wing populist" and pro-Russian, agreed, telling Stern: "I expect those Syrians celebrating the seizure of power by Islamists to return to their home country as soon as possible."

SPD and Greens call for moderation

Other voices in Germany, however, have called for moderation.

"After a day and a half, I find this an inappropriate domestic policy debate," Katrin Göring-Eckardt of the governing Green Party, told RBB radio in Berlin.

SPD politician Michael Roth cautioned against engaging in such a discussion, saying that it's too early to say what the future holds for Syria after 13 years of brutal civil war.

Roth's SPD colleague Dirk Wiese added that "the situation on the ground remains unclear" and called out Spahn's comments, saying: "Jens Spahn's comments gave the impression that he would ideally have sent people back the day before yesterday and flown the plane himself."

Spahn's own CSU colleague Joachim Herrmann, the Bavarian state interior minister, also took a softer line, telling Deutschlandfunk radio: "Those who have integrated well here are heartily invited to stay."

In the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, home to around 50,000 Syrians, state integration minister Katharina Binz of the Greens told local broadcaster SWR: "There are many [Syrian refugees] who have children in school here, who have full-time jobs and who will be scared when discussions suddenly erupt as to whether they might have to leave the country any day – which is completely unrealistic."

As for the situation in Syria, she said: "It's still not clear whether or not the new rulers can establish themselves, how they will treat minorities and whether they build a democratic system or an authoritarian one."

FDP suggests Germany-led 'Syria conference'

The German government's special envoy for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), formerly in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition, said Assad's fall "could possibly open up new perspectives in cooperation over migration."

But he also cautioned that "it is still too early to start planning concrete measures."

FDP general secretary Marco Buschmann called for Germany to convene an "international Syria conference," telling newspapers from the Funke media group: "For many people who have fled to us, this could open up the chance of a return home."

mf/es (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)