Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would want to see Ukraine join the European Union by 2030, as he joined forced with Moldova’s president Maia Sandu to ramp pressure on the bloc to accelerate the accession talks (14:43, 15:21).
Their comments come after the European Commission published its enlargement review of the candidate countries, praising the progress made by Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova, and criticising Serbia and Georgia (13:22, 13:24, 13:42, 14:37, 14:46, 15:43, 15:52).
But the commission pointedly said “further and steady progress is needed in the fight against corruption” in Ukraine, referencing the now-reversed corruption law reform over the summer (14:10).
Separately,
Italian president Sergio Mattarella warned that “the bloody conflict” triggered by Russia’s invasion on Ukraine “demands greater attention and a significant effort to adapt the military to create a common European defence force” to play a major role within Nato (12:42).
In the Netherlands, the coalition forming process is about to start this afternoon as leaders of the main parties meet to discuss next steps and appoint a “scout” to see what’s possible (11:06).
Syrians no longer have reason to be granted asylum in Germany after the end of their country’s civil war, according to chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said they will instead be encouraged to return to help with the reconstruction of their homeland (17:26).
China has issued a veiled warning to European leaders that restrictions on supply of chips critical for the car industry will continue to be affected by the Dutch government’s takeover of the Chinese-owned Nexperia plant last month (13:12).
Prosecutors in Italy have opened a manslaughter investigation over the death of a Romanian worker trapped when a medieval monument in central Rome partly collapsed (16:34).
Czechs are mourning the influential Catholic archbishop emeritus of Prague, Dominik Duka, who has died overnight at the age of 82 (10:23).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Merz says Syrians no longer have reason for asylum in Germany
in Berlin
Syrians no longer have reason to be granted asylum in Germany after the end of their country’s civil war, according to chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said they will instead be encouraged to return to help with the reconstruction of their homeland.
During Syria’s 14-year civil war, Germany took in more refugees than any other country in the EU, but the chancellor and others in his coalition cabinet argue that the situation has changed since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government eleven months ago.
Merz said late on Tuesday that he expected many of the more than one million Syrians living in Germany would voluntarily return home.
“There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany, and therefore we can also begin with repatriations,” he said. Those who refused to return could face deportation “in the near future”.
He appeared to contradict his foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, who after a visit to Damascus last week expressed doubt that many Syrians would choose to return given the devastation and ongoing instability, which he said made a dignified existence hard to imagine (Europe Live, Monday).
What few politicians want to touch on is the effect deportations might have on Germany, where hundreds of thousands of Syrians have integrated successfully, learning the language and joining the workforce – which is crying out for recruits at a time when the German population is rapidly ageing.
More than 7,000 Syrian doctors are employed in the health sector, often in rural regions which have been poorly served in recent decades.
Many of the 1.3 million Syrians living in Germany, almost a quarter of whom were born in their adopted home, have obtained citizenship, though the majority only hold temporary residence permits.
