Demand for improved EU relations with Syria – to facilitate return migration

Published 17 October 2024 at 13.57

EU. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urges the EU to normalize relations with Syria in order to facilitate the return of Syrians in Europe. This is reported by The Telegraph.

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Migration looks set to be a dominant theme when Meloni and other European leaders meet during the European Council summit in Brussels.

Before the meeting, Meloni expressed in the Italian Senate that the EU's strategy for Syria should be reconsidered in order to create conditions for Syrian refugees to be able to return home in a “voluntary, safe and sustainable way”.

< p>The EU severed diplomatic relations with Syria in 2011, in connection with the civil war in the country. Despite this, Italy, with the support of Austria, Greece and Slovakia among others, has called for a review of the EU's Syria strategy.

Earlier this year, for the first time in twelve years, Meloni appointed an Italian ambassador to the Syrian capital Damascus , a step that can be interpreted as an attempt to get closer to the Syrian government.

There are currently over a million Syrians in Europe, most of them living in Germany and Sweden according to the UN. At the same time, Syria has been the country from which most immigrants come who tried to enter the EU illegally in 2023, according to statistics from the EU's statistics office.

In 2023, over 484,000 people who are not EU citizens were ordered to to leave the Union, but only about 20 percent of these – about 91,500 – actually followed the order.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been clear that he wants the Syrians who emigrated to return and help rebuild the country. He has also introduced amnesties so that gun refusers and others can safely go home without risking legal sanctions.