With al-Assad gone, the German opposition is proposing the return of Syrian refugees

A day after Syrian rebel groups took control of the capital Damascus, senior leaders of Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU have called for encouraging refugees to return to the country.

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, fled to Russia after a coalition of rebel groups, including Islamist fighters, attacked government-held areas of the country in a swift offensive.

Germany should now hire planes to send Syrians who fled al-Assad’s regime back to their country, and provide money to encourage people to take the plane, the deputy leader of the CDU/CSU bloc said on Monday.

“As a first step, I can say that we are making a promise. What about the German government saying: whoever wants to return to Syria, we will rent him planes and give him an initial payment of €1,000,” ($1,060), Jens Spahn told broadcaster RTL/ntv on Monday morning.

Spahn, the former health minister, said Germany should also push for an international conference on the reconstruction of Syria with Turkey, Austria and Jordan.

“If things become normal and stable in their home country, if there are hopes there, then they are expected to return,” said Spahn. “But we will be able to judge that in a few days and weeks.”

But the CDU/CSU’s focus on Syrian refugees drew criticism from some German politicians, including Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a Green and parliament vice-president.

“After a day and a half, I find this to be an inappropriate domestic policy debate,” Göring-Eckardt told rbb radio in Berlin.

If Syria becomes a safe country, people should and will return, but that debate should wait until this period of great instability has passed, he said.