BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will raise topics including the political transition in Syria and the return of migrants to their homeland in talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Berlin next Tuesday, a government spokesperson said on Friday.
“We have an interest in deepening relations and, if you like, making a fresh start with the new Syrian government,” the spokesperson said. “We have many important issues to address … One example is the return of Syrians to their home country.”
Merz’s conservative predecessor Angela Merkel oversaw a historic open-doors policy towards refugees 10 years ago, welcoming around one million migrants to Germany, many of them Syrians fleeing civil war.
Since then, support for the far-right has surged and the conservative CDU party under Merz has pursued a far tougher line on border security and migration, pledging to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians in Germany still hold only temporary residence permits.
The visit marks Sharaa’s first visit to Germany since he and his Islamist fighters ousted former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Sharaa has made a series of foreign trips as his transitional government seeks to re-establish Syria’s ties with countries that had shunned Damascus during Assad’s rule.
However, violence in Aleppo has tarnished Syria’s efforts to rebuild after its devastating civil war, with Kurdish forces resisting efforts by Sharaa’s Islamist-led government to bring their fighters under centralised authority.
The German government spokesperson said the violence was being addressed by Berlin during talks with the Syrian side.
“The key question remains how the political transition will be shaped so that all social groups can live in safety and participate equally in political and social life,” he said. “It is one of the key topics we are discussing with the Syrian government.”
(Reporting by Friederike HeineEditing by Linda Pasquini and Gareth Jones)
