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Friedrich Merz, head of Germany’s largest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has stated that Syrians who have not integrated or found employment in Germany should return to Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Welt reports.
As the CDU’s candidate for chancellor, Merz warned against accepting more Syrian refugees into Germany.
“It is right not to take in more refugees from Syria at this time,” he said, explaining that some arrivals might be supporters of Assad’s regime, “from whom we gain nothing in Germany.”
Merz emphasized that Syrian refugees already in Germany who could work but choose not to should return to their home country.
“One-third who are working and integrated can, of course, stay here,” Merz stated, “but two-thirds are not employed—many of them young people—and many could return.” He suggested that refugees could initially return to northern Syria and eventually to other parts of the country.
Critics have accused the CDU of pushing this agenda despite significant evidence of successful Syrian integration in Germany.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz previously declared that well-integrated Syrian refugees would be allowed to remain in the country.
Meanwhile, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on December 15 that over 7,600 Syrian migrants had returned home within five days of rebel forces overthrowing Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
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