A chorus of business and union leaders this weekend called for keeping Syrian workers in Germany, following a conservative politician’s suggestion that they be sent back now that the Syrian regime has been overthrown.
“We cannot do without them in many areas,” said Ingo Wortmann, chairman of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), in response to a question from dpa.
About 2,000 Syrians work in the public transport sector across the country alone, he said. Without them to keep the buses and trains running, the shortage that already exists would become even worse. In most major German cities there are already numerous street signs advertising the benefits of working in public transport and asking people to apply.
Private sector companies want Syrian workers
Business representatives also do not want their Syrian workers to be sent back and criticized calls to stop admitting Syrians, a suggestion by Bavarian conservative CSU politician Andrea Lindholz.
“We rely on a well-integrated and qualified workforce,” the chairman of the Association of Family Businesses told the Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Many companies have invested in the training and education of refugees to compensate for the shortage of skilled and unskilled workers, according to Marie-Christine Ostermann.
“They should not be deported.”
Marc Tenbieg, from the board of directors of the German Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, told the Frankfurt newspaper that small and medium-sized enterprises would “painfully miss their Syrian workers. Mid-sized companies cannot afford to operate without willing employees. That is why we reject a hasty decision on possible repatriations to Syria.”
Unions: Syrian workers needed
“Whether in healthcare, in hospitals, in postal and parcel services, in the mail order sector or in many other professions. In many places, people who have fled from Syria help keep this country running,” says union president Frank Werneke of Verdi.
IG Metall union president Christiane Benner also told the newspaper: “We need skilled workers from abroad.”
According to the Ministry of the Interior, there are currently approximately 975,000 Syrians in Germany. On Monday, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) decided to halt decisions on asylum applications for people from Syria, due to the changing situation in the country – at least for the time being.
Also on Monday, Jens Spahn, a former health minister, said Germany should now charter planes to send Syrians who fled Bashar al-Assad’s regime back to their homeland, and offer cash incentives to encourage people to leave.
“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), Spahn told broadcaster RTL/ntv.
Don’t be in a hurry to hand out return flight tickets
Dennis Radtke, head of the workers’ wing of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, criticized Spahn’s suggestion to send Syrians back to their countries of origin.
“For both humanitarian reasons and from an economic perspective, we should not rush to hand out airline tickets.”
One class of Syrians does not want to live in Germany
But there is at least one class of Syrians who do not need to apply to enter the country: war criminals.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Sunday warned all supporters of the deposed Syrian ruling al-Assad family against going into hiding in Germany.
“To anyone among Assad’s torturers who are considering fleeing to Germany, I can only say clearly: we will hold all of the regime’s accomplices accountable for their terrible crimes with the full force of the law,” the Green Party politician said against the Sunday tabloid Bild am Sonntag. She emphasized that international security services and intelligence services must now work closely together.
After the overthrow of the hated Assad regime, a rebel alliance led by Islamists took power, while al-Assad fled to Russia with his family. Under his rule, tens of thousands of people were unlawfully detained, oppressed, tortured and murdered.
Faeser noted that there are security checkpoints at all borders.
“We are extremely vigilant. When accomplices of Assad’s terrorist regime try to flee to Germany, they should know that virtually no country prosecutes their crimes as harshly as Germany. That should deter them from making this attempt,” she told the newspaper.
