Pause asylum applications

Germany and Austria pause asylum applications for Syrians

From CNN’s Stephanie Halasz

After Syrian rebels toppled the Assad regime over the weekend, following more than five decades of brutal dictatorship, on Monday both Germany and Austria paused asylum applications for Syrians.

Austria is with immediate effect halting ongoing asylum procedures for Syrians living in the country, the interior ministry in Vienna said. The ministry also said it was starting to look at deporting people back to Syria.

“I have instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation program to Syria,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. Family reunions have also been suspended, the ministry said.

Roughly 95,000 Syrians live in Austria, according to the ministry. So far this year, almost 13,000 asylum requests have been lodged.

Meanwhile, neighboring Germany is to freeze asylum procedures for Syrians for now, according to its interior minister.

“The situation in Syria is currently very unclear,” Nancy Faeser said in a statement. This means “it is not yet possible to predict specific return options and it would be dubious to speculate on this in such a volatile situation,” she added.

In 2015, Germany took in over a million Syrian refugees, but a discussion regarding the possible return of Syrian refugees has already started in the country.

Conservative lawmaker Jens Spahn has proposed a financial bonus for Syrians who agreed to return. “As a first step, I would suggest an offer. How about the federal government says anyone who goes home to Syria, we will charter planes, they will get starting money of €1,000 ($1,060)?” he told CNN’s affiliate n-tv.