
Germany and Austria announced on Monday that they were freezing asylum applications from Syrian citizens, following the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Later on, France, Greece, Norway, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark also announced the suspension of applications.
Germany said today that there are currently 47,270 requests from Syrian citizens that have been frozen, and made it clear that the remaining requests, which were processed before Assad's overthrow, would not be affected.
Johann Wadephul, a member of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said it was too early to predict whether the collapse of Assad's regime would lead immigrants to return to their home country, or to the continued arrival of immigrants from Syria.
Maya Kadour, a member of Germany's Green Party, said that the call for the deportation of Syrian immigrants was "shocking," adding that, "I think it's more than cynical and, frankly, quite populist."
In Austria, where the number of applications is significantly lower – 7,300, it was also decided to suspend applications for asylum.
About 14 million people have left Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in the country in 2011, of which, according to estimates, about one million have arrived in Germany.