Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has no general concerns about the repatriation of refugees Syria. “The civil war in Syria is over,” said the CDU leader. “There are no longer any reasons for asylum in Germany” – that’s why returns can begin.
Merz assumes that many Syrians will voluntarily return to their home country to help with reconstruction after the war. “We can of course deport those who refuse to return to the country,” said the Chancellor. The Federal Ministry of the Interior is currently working on how Syrian criminals can be deported.
“This country now needs all its forces, especially the Syrians, to rebuild the country,” said the CDU leader. “We know that a very large number of Syrians also want to return, we will encourage that, and we will also help the country to rebuild quickly.”
He invited the Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa “to Germany to talk to him about how we can solve this together,” Merz added, referring to the repatriation of Syrian refugees.
Foreign Minister Wadephul hardly sees a dignified life in Syria
Table of Contents
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) had previously also supported deportations strengthened after Syria. “We are in the process of preparing returns to Syria,” said Dobrindt at the start of a local conference in Mannheim.
The debate was sparked by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul during a visit to Syria last week. After visiting a suburb of Damascus that had been destroyed by the civil war, he said that people there could hardly live in dignity. The Foreign Office officially warns against traveling to Syria, saying the security situation is unstable and there are still armed clashes in various parts of the country.
Dobrindt emphasizes coalition agreement
Wadephul said anyone who fits in and integrates into German society is welcome. However, they are in contact with the Syrian government regarding the repatriation of individual serious criminals. Party colleagues contradicted Wadephul: The end of the civil war means there is no longer any reason to flee, said Saxony-Anhalt’s CDU leader and member of the Federal Presidium, Sven Schulze. The degree of destruction in a country is an unsuitable argument for deportations, agreed the deputy leader of the Union parliamentary group, Günter Krings (CDU).
Dobrindt now said he wanted to continue to enforce the coalition agreement in which the government decided to deport criminals to Syria and Afghanistan.
Deputy government spokesman Steffen Meyer tried to dispel the impression of an internal dispute: If you look closely, there is “no dissent or contradiction at all in terms of content,” he said. It is important to stabilize the situation in the region – to make voluntary return possible. Returns of criminals to Syria should be made possible if this is legally permissible, said Meyer. The local situation will play a role in the assessment.
Deportation agreement with the radical Islamic terrorist group Taliban
A few weeks ago, Dobrindt announced that a deportation agreement between the federal government and the Taliban, the radical Islamic terrorist group ruling Afghanistan, was about to be concluded. Now he said that the government has already started deporting criminals to Afghanistan. They are in the process of organizing deportations regularly via scheduled flights.
There is criticism of Dobrindt’s actions and negotiations with the internationally unrecognized Taliban government, including from human rights organizations. Since the takeover of power Taliban The human rights situation on site has deteriorated drastically.
