German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Monday that Syrian refugees must have work if they want to stay in the country.
“We can make good use of those who work here,” Habeck said on public radio station Deutschlandfunk. “Those who do not work here will – if the country is safe – be able or even forced to return to safety.”
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last month, Germany has had a heated debate about the status of Syrian residents.
The latest comments from Habeck – the Greens’ candidate for the February elections – echo those of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who said on Sunday: “Those who are well integrated, have a job, have learned German and have a new home here have found here, must be allowed to stay in Germany.”
According to figures from Faeser’s ministry, approximately 975,000 Syrians currently live in Germany. Most arrived after 2015 as a result of the Syrian civil war.
More than 300,000 of them have subsidiary protection status, because they have been allowed to stay in the country, not because of individual persecution, but because of the civil war in their home country.
German immigration authorities recently decided to temporarily stop making decisions on asylum applications for people from Syria due to the dynamic developments in the country.
The conservative Christian Democratic Union has taken a tougher stance on Syrian refugees, with lawmaker Thorsten Frei arguing that those who remain in Germany should earn enough to feed their families and pay their pensions in retirement.
