A day after Syrian rebel groups took control of the capital Damascus, senior leaders of Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc proposed encouraging refugees to return to the country.
Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s strongman president, fled to Russia after a coalition of rebel groups, including Islamist extremist fighters, swept through previously government-controlled areas of the country in a rapid offensive.
Germany should now charter planes to send Syrians who fled al-Assad’s regime back to their homeland, and offer cash incentives to encourage people to take the flight, a deputy leader of the conservative CDU/CSU said block Monday.
“As a first step I would say we make an offer. How about if the German government says: anyone who wants to return to Syria, we will charter planes for them and give them a starting amount of 1,000 euros.” ($1,060), Jens Spahn told broadcaster RTL/ntv on Monday morning.
Spahn, a former health minister, said Germany should also push for an international conference on Syria’s reconstruction, together with Turkey, Austria and Jordan.
“If things normalize and stabilize at home, if there are prospects there, then there is an expectation to return,” Spahn said. “But we can certainly only judge that in a few days and weeks.”
But the CDU/CSU’s focus on Syrian refugees drew criticism from other German politicians, including Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a Green Left party and the vice president of parliament.
“After a day and a half, I think this is an inappropriate domestic policy debate,” Göring-Eckardt told RBB Radio in Berlin.
If Syria becomes a safe country, people must and will return, but that debate must wait until after this period of great instability, she said.
