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==Greens, Social Democrats criticize 'cheap' Merz remarks on Syrians
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has faced criticism from both the opposition and from within his own governing coalition for his remarks about Syrian immigrants.
During a visit by Syria's interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, Merz said that around 80% of the approximately 900,000 Syrian nationals living in Germany should return to their homeland in the coming years (see earlier).
For Franziska Brantner, the leader of the opposition Green Party, Merz "just plucked a number out of the air" without addressing actual issues, while ignoring the fact that many Syrian refugees "have since become deeply rooted" in Germany, with many working in "key professions" such as healthcare. She said it was therefore "cheap for Mr. Merz to just say 80% have to go back."
There was also pushback from within Merz's own coalition, with Social Democrat (SPD) immigration expert Hakan Demir pointing out even before the Chancellor's remarks that Syria was still not a safe country.
"I can't see how we can just send back tens of thousands of people," he said. "It's just not possible if you look at the situation on the ground there."
The Greens' Brantner agreed, saying that Merz should have demanded that President al-Sharaa do more to enable "cultural and ethnic diversity" in Syria, where she claimed that over 100,000 people are still registered as missing while fighting continues in Kurdish and Druze regions.
She said such incidents "shake faith in the transition process" following the fall of former dictator Bashar Assad.
https://p.dw.com/p/5BOoH
Merz is as incompetent as Starmer