Overview
- At a CDU/CSU parliamentary meeting, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was reported to have said Syria looks worse than Germany in 1945, a remark participants confirmed to dpa.
- Wadephul had earlier described a devastated Damascus suburb by saying people can hardly live there with dignity, which some colleagues read as conflicting with the party’s return-focused agenda.
- Shortly before the meeting, he clarified that he and the Foreign Office back deporting criminals and promoting voluntary returns to Syria and Afghanistan, a message that drew little applause.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz asserted that the Syrian civil war is over and that there are no remaining grounds for asylum in Germany, arguing returns can begin.
- CDU figures, including faction leader Jens Spahn, criticized the timing of Wadephul’s clarification, while TV panels questioned whether party rhetoric on migration is coherent or politically risky.