In a diplomatic meeting with Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa yesterday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that 80% of the 900,000 Syrians in Germany should return home within three years.
A plan for a mass return of skilled Syrian workers to Syria has been criticised both within Germany and abroad, as politicians warn of the major challenges Germany would face in doing so.
Chancellor Merz was criticised by his own government coalition parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD), for his comment on Monday on the return of 80% of Syrians in Germany to Syria within three years.
“It’s not a wise move for the chancellor to put forward specific figures within specific timeframes because that raises expectations he may not be able to meet,” said SPD deputy chairwoman Anke Rehlinger in an interview with newspapers published by the Funke Media Group.
A real prospect of return
The meeting between Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Merz took place at the German Chancellery on Monday. The chancellor added that Al Sharaa was also hopeful for the return of Syrians in Germany to Syria.
Merz sought to make a clear point that the next period in Syria’s rebuilding and growth post-civil war would benefit from the return of the Syrians living in Germany.
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He emphasised that now that the civil war was over, in principle there is nothing stopping the Syrians from returning, and that it is a very real prospect.
Sharaa said that Syria would never forget how Germany opened its doors to Syrian refugees during the civil war.
“We are proud that Syrians have learned very quickly to contribute to society,” he said. “We are working with our friends in the German government to establish a ‘circular’ migration model.”
This would “enable Syrians to contribute to the reconstruction of their homeland without giving up the stability and lives they have built here, for those who wish to stay”, Sharaa said.
Criticism from German politicians
SPD deputy chairwoman Rehlinger expressed her support for the Syrians who would choose to go back, calling it a “good thing” and that some should definitely follow through.
However, Rehlinger also expressed her concern about the plan: “Many Syrians are now our fellow citizens because they are integrated here, work in shortage occupations, care for the elderly, or drive buses, and not infrequently have even become German citizens.”
Chancellor Merz has also faced criticism from within his own CDU party: “The message sent by such figures is problematic in several respects,” CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter told the business daily Handelsblatt newspaper.
Various other German political figures have been critical of the plan. Luise Amtsberg, a Green Party member of the German parliament and Foreign Affairs Committee rapporteur on Syria and the Middle East, described Merz’s remarks as “shameful”.
“This is causing anxiety among hundreds of thousands of German-Syrians, who are getting the impression that they will have to leave Germany again in the coming years,” Amtsberg told the daily Rheinische Post newspaper.
“Anyone who throws such numbers around is ignoring not only the fragile security situation in Syria, but also the fact that many Syrian refugees have long since become part of our society,” she added.
Syrian refugee crisis
Following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2014 under the Assad regime, Germany was one of the most popular destinations of migration for Syrian refugees and asylum seekers.
The number of those living in Germany with German citizenship with Syrian backgrounds is estimated at around 1,281,000 in 2023. In addition to this, the population of Syrians with Syrian citizenship residing in Germany is estimated at 972,469 in 2023.
Syrians constitute the second-largest group of foreign nationals living in Germany.
Many Syrian refugees came to Germany during the crisis of 2015, when former Chancellor Angela Merkel made the decision not to close the borders to those fleeing the civil war.
Various other groups of Syrian displaced nationals have returned to Syria following the fall of Bashar Al Assad in December 2024, including the largest diaspora in Turkey.
As of February 2026, over 1.36 million Syrians have voluntarily returned to Syria from Turkey since 2016, the largest number returning after the fall of the Assad regime.
Some reports suggest that over 578,000 Syrians returned to Syria after the first year of the change in power.
Overall, the 14-year-long war led to around 6.8 million Syrians, a third of the population, fleeing the country.
