Europe gave 1 million Syrians fleeing war international protection. Some countries want to deport them.

What a difference a decade makes.
In 2015, when 1 million refugees, many of them from Syria, made their way across Europe, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed them all, famously announcing: “We can do this!”
Since then, nearly 4.5 million Syrians (nearly a fifth of the country’s pre-war population) have made their way to Europe, fleeing a now-stagnant civil war and an interminable humanitarian crisis. Nearly 1.3 million Syrians were granted international protection in the EU between 2015 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad used chemical weapons on his own people and he faced allegations of torturing civilians. By 2012, the EU cut off diplomatic ties with the country and slapped sanctions on Assad’s regime.
Now, in spite of the continued war, Italy and Austria, among a handful of other EU countries, would like to designate Syria as a “safe country” and deport Syrians. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer last week cited the 200,000 people who had crossed the border from Lebanon into Syria amid Israel’s ongoing ground invasion and assault as evidence that Syria was safe. 
“Syria is now documented as safe in many areas,” said Nehammer on Thursday to the bloc’s 27 leaders.
Other countries, led by Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, are pushing to normalize ties with Assad to facilitate the aforementioned deportations as international organizations argue the country remains unsafe.
In 2023, Syrians remain the largest group applying for international protection in the EU. More than 180,000 Syrians made first-time applications, which was up from 130,000 in the previous year. Around 120,000 Syrians received a positive decision in the first instance, followed by Afghans (67,170) and Venezuelans (42,340). In contrast, EU countries granted temporary protection status — an emergency mechanism activated in March 2022 — to more than 1 million people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
At least 90 percent of applications from Syrians processed in the first six months of 2024 were granted either refugee or subsidiary protection status, meaning that authorities recognized they would be exposed to a substantial risk of serious harm if they returned to their country.
The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) defines a safe country as one where “the law is applied democratically, and political circumstances do not generally and consistently lead to persecution, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or threat by reason of indiscriminate violence.”
If Syria were to be defined as a “safe country of origin” by Austria or Italy, its citizens should not, in principle, be granted asylum because there is no evidence that they face the risk of systematic harm.
Eva Singer, director of the asylum department at the Danish Refugee Council, said a push to define Syria as safe would likely run into legal challenges.
“Even if EU countries decided that Syria is a safe country, there would still need to be an individual assessment of the risk for each person including the possibility to appeal the decision to an independent body,” she said.
This is not the first time an EU country has attempted to deem Syria safe. Since 2019, Denmark revoked or did not renew residence permits of dozens of Syrian migrants from Damascus, claiming the capital was now a safe place (Assad used chemical weapons on the then-opposition controlled Ghouta district of Damascus in 2013). 
Singer said that no Syrians have been deported, to date, from Denmark. 
“The EU or member countries can’t determine that a country is safe in parts — such an assessment needs to be done as a whole,” said Hussein Baoumi, foreign policy advocacy officer at Amnesty International’s European institutions office, adding that attempts by European countries to designate areas of countries as safe would likely be blocked in court.
The EUAA’s latest guidance on Syria, dated April 2024, points to the threat posed by militias and labels Assad’s government “a main actor of persecution and serious harm in the country.” It also lists several areas — including the governorate of Aleppo, Syria’s most populous district — where “the mere presence of a civilian” would constitute “a real risk of serious harm” and therefore grounds for international protection.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, touts its own assistance to Syria and its surrounding countries, which have taken in millions of refugees, saying: “[H]alf the population is displaced, both inside and outside the country. Humanitarian needs in Syria are now at an all-time high.”
The EU has so far resisted requests from its member countries to review its Syria strategy — but left the door open for a change of heart.
The effect of this conversation on Syrian migrants in Europe, Singer said, leaves them in uncertainty. 
“Many of them are working, completing their education, they are contributing to our societies, but are constantly reminded they might not be allowed to stay here,” Singer said. 
“That is not good for integration, for the individuals, or for the labor market.”
Csongor Körömi contributed to this report.