Merz invites Syria’s Sharaa to Germany for deportation talks

BERLIN

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that Syrian refugees in Germany must go home now that their country's war is over or face deportation, inviting Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to Berlin to discuss the issue.

“The civil war in Syria is over. There are no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany and therefore we can begin repatriations,” Merz said late on Nov. 3 in his latest hardline comments on migration.

"For those who refuse to return to their country, we can of course expel them," he told reporters.

Merz said he had invited Sharaa visit Germany to discuss "how we can resolve this together.”

Syria "needs all its strength, and above all Syrians, to rebuild", Merz said, adding he was confident many would return of their own accord.

Around 1 million Syrians live in Germany, most having fled the war in a mass exodus in 2015 and 2016.

Asked about deporting Syrian citizens who have committed crimes and expelling those without legal status or residence permits, Merz signaled his government will take a strict approach.

"We will, of course, continue to deport criminals to Syria. That is the plan. We will now implement this in a very concrete manner," Merz told reporters.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Oct. 30 on a trip to Damascus that the potential for Syrians to return was "very limited" since the war had destroyed much of the country's infrastructure.

That statement caused a backlash from Merz's and Wadephul's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which has been struggling to avoid being outflanked by far-right parties on the explosive issue of migration.

A decade ago, Merz’s conservative predecessor, Angela Merkel, implemented a landmark open-door policy for refugees, allowing around 1 million migrants — many escaping Syria’s civil war — to enter Germany.
In the years since, backing for the far right has grown, and under Merz, the CDU has adopted a much tougher stance on border control and migration, vowing to accelerate deportations.