Two days after the fall of the Assad regime, Austria’s government, as the first EU state, announces a repatriation plan for Syrian refugees living in the country. “I have tasked the Ministry of the Interior to re-evaluate the situation in Syria. In this context, asylum procedures and family reunification will be temporarily suspended,” said Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer to “Bild” (Tuesday edition).
“Furthermore, already granted residence permits will be reviewed, and a well-structured return and repatriation program to Syria will be developed.” Nehammer argued, Syria needs “its citizens now. The fall of the Assad regime changes the overall situation.”
Generally, “everyone is free to return voluntarily to their homeland and participate in the rebuilding of their own country.” Austria supports Syrians in this step.
With the fall of the Assad regime, “a safer homeland and the possibility of return is coming within reach” for thousands of Syrians, said Nehammer to “Bild”. Asylum is “intentionally considered as `provisional protection`”, which is why the promotion of return is a decisive role.
The Chancellor listed four central points of his plan to “Bild”: 1. “Suspension of asylum procedures, review of already granted residence permits, and temporary suspension of family reunification”. 2. “The Ministry of the Interior is developing a well-structured return and repatriation program to Syria”. 3. “Establishing contacts by Chancellor Nehammer with President Erdogan and EU Council President António Costa”. 4. “Invitation to the European Union to take the changed situation into account in its policy”.