Germany's interior ministry believes the incoming coalition will aim to begin returning to Syria as soon as possible. However, outgoing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and her Austrian counterpart had to cancel a planned visit to the country last week due to unspecified security threats. The visit was intended to address the issue of returns.
Coalition talks continue in Germany as the conservative CDU/CSU block, led by presumed incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the social democratic SPD, thrash out the details of their new coalition.
Migration remains one of the big themes, especially the subject of returning Syrian and Afghan nationals who have been refused asylum or have forfeited the right to it, perhaps by committing a crime or being seen as a threat to national security.
"Germany and Austria are working hard to make sure that Syrian nationals convicted of serious crimes and those deemed to be dangers to national security should be returned to Syria as soon as possible," a spokesperson for the German Interior Minister told a press conference last week.
Germany hopes to raise the subject of returns
Interior Minister Faeser (SPD) had intended to raise the subject of returns with the interim government in Syria if she had been able to complete the planned trip. "The fact that she had to cancel the trip shows just how fragile the security situation is in Syria," Lars Castellucci from the SPD, a member of the Interior Ministry parliamentary committee, told Tagesspiegel in an interview.
"Things are very far from being peaceful there at the moment. That has been demonstrated most strongly by the recent attacks on the Alawite community." However, he added, the canceled visit "does not change our position on returns. It does, however, throw an obstacle in the way of things."
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In spite of this, Castellucci underlined that it wouldn't be a good idea for Germany now to instigate another ban on deportations to Syria, as that could send "the wrong signal" to Syrians and the interim government there. "That would just act as a kind of invite to people to believe that if they come to Germany now, they can stay for as long as they like, with no time limit on things," Castellucci told Tagespiegel.
The SPD politician explained that the incoming government would, he believed, "try to maintain good relations with the interim Syrian government, and help them, as far as is possible, to stabilize the situation there."
The only thing that might throw a spanner in the works of German plans could be if the security situation in Syria gets worse again. Or even more worrying, if the country descends once more into civil war. But as long as things keep improving, the incoming coalition politicians are hoping to find common ground in pursuing the current policy of being able to return certain categories to Syria as soon as possible.
Although in reality, this is all theoretical, as Germany has not returned anyone to Syria since 2012, a year after conflict broke out in the country.
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Voluntary returns program
In the middle of January, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) announced a new voluntary return program for Syrians who were interested in going home. BAMF offered up to 1,700 euros per family for Syrians to return to their home country as a kind of start-up grant, as well as the costs of their return travel to Syria.
The costs on offer could be broken down as 200 euros per adult, 100 euros per child, on top of medical costs covered up to the value of 2,000 euros for an adult and up to 500 euros for a child or young person. All together, a family could claim up to 4,000 euros as a start-up grant.
By the end of February, just 40 people had actually taken up the offer and traveled by February 16, reported the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland RND.
According to the German Interior Ministry, 85 people voluntarily returned to Syria last year. Before the start of the new program in mid-January, eight people returned. That means that in the last year, 133 people in total have returned voluntarily to Syria with the German ministry's help.
For undecided individuals considering a return, the German Interior Ministry also hopes to introduce a scheme allowing Syrians in Germany to visit Syria temporarily without immediately losing their protection status.
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Syrians in Germany
At the end of December 2024, Germany had just under one million Syrian nationals registered as living in Germany. Around 10,231 have been told they should return to Syria once the security situation allows them to do so, and around 9,156 of them have been issued with a "Duldung," meaning their stay is "tolerated" for a limited period, until the security situation changes.
For the moment, BAMF has suspended all decisions on Syrian applications for asylum. At the end of February, there were around 53,000 Syrians whose asylum claims had been suspended, reported dpa.
Between 2015 and 2023, around 163,170 Syrians were granted German citizenship.
Two weeks ago, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock opened the German embassy in Damascus once more, which had been shut since 2012 because of the conflict in the country. However, only a skeleton staff has been working there and consular services are still operating from the capital of neighboring Lebanon, Beirut.
