Screengrab of Friedrich Merz giving a speech to the CDU conference.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said most Syrians living in Germany should return to their home country.“In the next three years, around 80 percent of the Syrians currently living in Germany should return to their home country,” Merz said during a joint press conference with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Berlin.Merz said some groups, such as doctors and nurses, could be granted the right to remain.However, he made clear the broader aim is a large-scale return of Syrians who arrived in 2015 and 2016 at the height of the country’s civil war.After Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s doors to illegal migrants, Germany became home to around 1.23 million people of Syrian origin.“The civil war is over, and there is now, in principle, a perspective for returning to Syria and we want to make that possible together,” Merz said.Germany’s Chancellor expects 80% of Syrians in Germany to return to Syria within three years. That’s what the Syrian president would like too, according to Merz. He also stressed that “those who live here and want to stay and are well integrated” can remain in Germany. pic.twitter.com/FrB2KNqZ5Z— DW Politics (@dw_politics) March 30, 2026The German government is seeking cooperation from Damascus to facilitate returns, particularly for those without a legal right to stay.Officials say the plan is intended to reduce long-term migration pressures and support reconstruction efforts in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.Despite being a fervent globalist and supporter of the liberal world order, Merz made restricting migration a central issue during his 2025 campaign.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Slams Trump, Says He ‘Squandered’ America’s Global Leadership (VIDEO)/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i