Several European states are reportedly considering normalizing their relations with Syria‘s President Bashar al-Assad to facilitate deportations to his country. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is calling on the European Union (EU) to reconsider its relationship with the Assad government as the bloc looks to increase deportations of illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers. Western governments have been seeking to oust the Russia-backed leader since 2011, with moves to potentially normalize ties serving as a tacit acknowledgment that regime change efforts have failed.
“It is necessary to review the European Union Strategy for Syria and to work with all actors, to create the conditions for Syrian refugees to return to their homeland in a voluntary, safe, and sustainable way,” Meloni said.
The EU has not had formal relations with Assad’s Syria since 2011. Still, Meloni is reportedly looking to push the issue with other EU leaders on Thursday during a meeting in Brussels.
Over the last several months, partly due to a surge in the popularity of populist parties in elections in France, Germany, and Austria, EU governments have begun to take a much more pro-borders stance.
Germany, with its leftist coalition government, has enacted border checks at all of its land frontiers. At the same time, Poland wants to deny the right of asylum to migrants crossing into the country illegally via Belarus.
The move to normalize relations with President Assad also comes as he has seen leaders in the Middle East begin to restore their own ties with the Syrian leader.
Last year, Assad attended a meeting with Arab leaders for the first time in over ten years, being hugged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia had previously backed some of the Syrian insurrectionists fighting to overthrow Assad’s government.
Syrian migrants in Europe have been behind many high-profile crimes, including a mass stabbing at a diversity festival in Solingen, Germany, earlier this year that left three people dead.
Germany has the largest proportion of Syrian migrants in Europe—at least 972,000—and most are on welfare.
