Germany Expects 800,000 Syrians To Leave Before 2030
By EurActiv
By Björn Stritzel
(EurActiv) — Eighty percent of the one million Syrians living in Germany should return home before the end of the decade, said Friedrich Merz after receiving Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Syrian President in Berlin today.
Standing alongside Al-Sharaa, the German Chancellor expressed his hopes that some 800,000 Syrians, beginning with those who have abused the asylum system or broken the law, would return to their native land over the next three years.
“In the longer term of the next three years, and this was also the wish of President Al-Sharaa, around 80 percent of the Syrians currently residing in Germany should return to their home country,” he said.
“We need a reliable repatriation option, cooperation with Syria, especially, first and foremost for those who abuse our hospitality.”
Merz stressed that many Syrians would remain, particularly those well integrated and employed, including professionals such as doctors.
The trip int Berlin had originally been slated for January but was postponed amid clashes between the Syrian forces and the Kurdish YPG in eastern Syria. A process is now underway to fold the YPG into Syria’s regular armed forces.
Al-Sharaa arrived with a large delegation, among them Raed al-Salah Syria’s Minister of Disaster Management and Emergency Response, who signed a cooperation agreement with Alexander Dobrindt, the German interior minister.
Meeting at the foreign ministry, both countries agreed to expand cooperation to support the reconstruction of a country laid waste by the Assad regime’s war for 14 years as Merz highlighted the “considerable opportunities” in closer ties.
German companies including Knauf and Siemens Energy are expected to make significant investments, Berlin has earmarked €200 million for Syria’s rebuilding efforts this year.
Both leaders cast reconstruction as the overriding priority. Legal certainty will be key to attracting foreign investors, Merz said. Al-Sharaa, who once led the Islamist-leaning faction HTS which together with other rebel forces overthrew the Assad regime in December 2024, pledged to build a “new Syria”, a state of institutions that guarantees constitutional rights to all citizens.
In the coming days, a German government delegation is set to travel to Syria. The development bank KfW and the development agency GIZ are also expected to open offices in Damascus.
Al-Sharaa will continue his Europe trip to the UK.
