In Europe, after the fall of the very authoritarian Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the fate of Syrian refugees is at the heart of debates: they represent the leading nationality of asylum seekers. Since Sunday December 8, around ten European countries have frozen the procedures for examining asylum applications.
Ces European countries such as Sweden, Norway, Italy and Denmark estimate that the majority of asylum seekers were fleeing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Consequently, there is no longer any reason to leave the Syria. Among these countries, we also find Germany, which since the start of the war in 2011, has welcomed more than 700,000 refugees. There is also Austria, the United Kingdom, Greece and even Belgium. Very concretely, requests already filed in these countries will not be studied, at least as long as the situation does not evolve in Syria.
Spain, for its part, goes completely against the grain of the majority of European countries and specifies that it will continue to examine the Syrians’ requests.
In fact, if the refugees have obtained the nationality of these States, things will be a little more complicated. Regardless, these proposals ultimately seem to go in the direction of the Syrian Prime Minister who is calling on his compatriots abroad to return home to allow the country to prosper.
Read more on RFI
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