Overview
- The Interior Ministry says it is negotiating an agreement with Syrian authorities to enable returns, beginning with deportations of convicted criminals as set out in the coalition pact.
- After visiting Damascus and Harasta, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described vast destruction and said large-scale returns are not feasible in the near term, with only very few exception cases expected.
- CDU and CSU leaders, including Carsten Linnemann, Alexander Hoffmann and Martin Huber, insist deportations of offenders should proceed, with Linnemann calling the internal dispute a “sham debate.”
- The SPD backs case-by-case decisions tied to conditions on the ground, the Greens align with Wadephul’s caution and criticize Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, and Die Linke urges a halt to returns and warns against deals with an interim leadership linked to HTS.
- No large-scale deportations have begun, and the unresolved policy fight carries high stakes given roughly one million Syrians have built lives in Germany.