France plans to put asylum requests from Syrians on hold after the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad, the interior ministry said Monday.
The decision, which follows moves by other European countries including Germany, Sweden and Austria, “should be taken in the coming hours,” the ministry said.
France registered more than 4,000 asylum requests from Syrian nationals in 2023, according to the OFPRA refugee authority that processes claims.
It is also an important transit country for Syrians attempting to reach Britain, many of whom attempt perilous crossings of the Channel in small inflatable boats.
Between January and September, almost 2,900 Syrians arrived in the UK in small boats, according to UK Home Office figures.
Immigration is a sensitive political issue in France, where the far right’s record performance in July’s snap elections has left parliament more divided than at any time in the history of the Fifth Republic.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had earlier Monday said France would not immediately press Syrians granted asylum to return home.
Repatriations “cannot happen unless they are able to return safely to Syria, safety is not yet totally assured, but it must be,” he told broadcaster France Info.
Syria’s “political transition must allow this, so that the one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the millions in Jordan, and those in Europe who want to return, can do so calmly,” Barrot added.
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