Thorsten Frei, the parliamentary business manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, welcomes the suspension of asylum procedures for Syrians in Germany. He believes that the subsidiary protection status for Syrians must be reviewed, and family reunification from Syria should, like in Austria, be stopped. He told RTL and ntv, “In the current situation, it doesn’t make sense. Austria has already stopped family reunification for subsidiarily protected Syrian refugees, and that’s the right approach in the context of Syria.”
Frei thinks it’s right to stop family reunification for subsidiarily protected individuals in general, especially in times of massive migration, which he calls “uncontrolled migration” to Germany.
“It was the right decision of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to suspend the procedures for now.” There are currently around 50,000 open asylum procedures for Syrians, which should not be continued. Additionally, he said, in the past, Syrians in general did not find protection in Germany based on the constitution or the Geneva Refugee Convention, but rather received subsidiary protection due to the overall situation.
Therefore, it’s necessary to review the overall situation. “It has developed in a different direction due to the fall of the Assad regime and the end of 13 years of civil war.” If this development becomes stable, subsidiary protection will no longer be sufficient, and it will be necessary to re-examine whether those who previously had such a status in Germany should return to their homeland, Frei said.