JOSÉ HENRIQUE MARIANTE
Germany intends to expand a program that provides financial support for Syrians who want to return to the country after 13 years of civil war. The information was confirmed by a government spokesperson on the same day that Annalena Baerbock, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, made a surprise visit to Damascus together with her French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot.
The two politicians, representing the European Union, made this Friday (3) the bloc’s first formal contact with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the rebel forces that overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime just under a month ago.
In a statement issued only after boarding a military plane, for security reasons, Baerbock stated that the trip was “a clear signal to the Syrians.” “A political restart between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria, is possible.”
Already in Damascus, Barrot said he hoped for a “sovereign, stable and peaceful” Syria upon arriving at the French embassy, closed since 2012, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
The diplomatic onslaught also allows for a more local interpretation in the case of Germany. Immigration is one of the hottest topics in the ongoing election campaign. On February 23, in an early election due to the end of the coalition created by Olaf Scholz, the population will go to the polls to choose a new Parliament.
In the first days after Assad’s fall, parliamentarians of different stripes took advantage of the momentum of the news to outline plans about the burden of Syrian refugees in Germany, almost 800 thousand if asylum seekers are also counted. Inheritance of a historic decision by Angela Merkel, who, in 2015, opened the country’s borders at a time when Europe was trying to do the opposite.
Now, a leader of the CDU, Merkel’s party and the favorite for the next election, Friedrich Merz, was one of the first to launch the idea of paying €1,000 to anyone who wants to return to Syria immediately.
The truth is that the German government already has a similar program in operation. There is €1,000 per adult who expresses their intention to return to their country of origin, plus a further €250 for expenses. The Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the administration of asylum seekers, declared this Friday that the policy needs to be expanded, but that the situation in Syria remains “too unstable”.
The consideration reflects the tone of the Scholz government since Assad’s overthrow, which is that we must wait for a more reliable political and social scenario in Syria. At the same time, there is concern that the issue will be led by the opposition’s narrative, which calls for and promises strong measures. Alice Weidel, candidate for prime minister for the AfD (Alternative for Germany), an acronym considered extreme right by the German security services, cried out in the first few days that “we need to send these people home”.
The official response, at that time, was to suspend the analysis of new asylum requests, around 40 thousand last month. Similar measures were taken by several countries in Europe in December. From the basic corollary of populists on the continent, on the rise especially in Germany, actions against immigration are those that have been absorbed the most and without much hesitation by centrist governments and politicians.
Voting intention polls push the shift. Weidel and the AfD, for example, are on track to form the second largest group in the Bundestag in February.
In Damascus, Baerbock repeated the reservations already made about the past and the terrorist classification of the group Organization for the Liberation of the Levant (HTS, by its Arabic acronym), in Sharaa. “We know its ideological origins, but we are also noticing the desire for moderation and understanding with other actors”, stated the minister.
Baerbock, one of the main leaders of the Greens in Germany, expressed the need for the new Syrian government to demonstrate respect for women and minorities. He also asked for a shorter deadline for the country’s democratization. Sharaa declared last weekend that Syria would take at least four years to hold elections again.
Barrot, the French minister, told journalists in the Syrian capital that he offered technical help for the country to draft a new Constitution.
