The Danish government is offering substantial financial incentives for Syrian refugees to voluntarily return to their home country.
Adults can receive up to 200,000 Danish crowns (€26,818), while children are eligible for 50,000 crowns (€6,700). These payments are part of Denmark’s repatriation law, which aims to encourage voluntary departures.
Since 2015, over 5,100 Syrians have left Denmark, including nearly 600 with legal residency who returned to Syria with financial support since 2019, according to Denmark’s Social Democratic Integration Minister, Kaare Dybvad Bek.
Speaking to the German tabloid Bild, Bek expressed hope that “even more people will take advantage of the offer” in light of the program’s continuation.
This Syrian migrant famously took a selfie with Merkel back in 2016.
Now, he says he has no plans to return to Syria.
The same applies for hundreds of thousands of Syrians. Even if conditions improve in Syria, many receive benefits in Germany they'll never willingly give up. pic.twitter.com/wkXGhacFDV
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 13, 2024As of January 2024, around 45,000 individuals of Syrian origin reside in Denmark, including 28,000 adults and 17,000 children. If every Syrian in Denmark opted for the repatriation payments, it could cost the Danish government approximately €865 million.
However, officials suggest that paying for return incentives may be more cost-effective than supporting non-working refugees in Denmark. Notably, none of the centrist political parties have objected to the €27,000 payout per adult.
The repatriation program has sparked mixed reactions both in Denmark and abroad. Germany’s CDU parliamentary group vice-president Jens Spahn recently proposed offering free flights and a €1,000 incentive for voluntary returns to Syria.
🇩🇪 A leading figure in Germany's CDU party — predicted to become the largest party in the German parliament after February's elections — has suggested the country could QUIT the European Convention on Human Rights to combat illegal immigration.
"Irregular migration is more than… pic.twitter.com/TCEH8Un0cp
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 10, 2024CDU colleague Dennis Radtke voiced skepticism about the proposal, citing uncertainty about Syria’s evolving situation. “It is difficult to predict in which direction developments will go in the next few weeks. For humanitarian and economic reasons, we should not be too hasty in handing out airline tickets,” Radtke said.
He also claimed that the employment rate among Syrian men is above average. However, this has been debunked in figures from the Federal Employment Agency reported by Remix News last week, which showed that nearly half of Syrians in Germany remain dependent on a citizens’ benefit (welfare) nearly a decade after arriving in the 2015 asylum wave.
As of August 2024, 518,050 Syrian citizens in Germany were in receipt of state welfare benefits, or Bürgergeld, reflecting persistent integration challenges.
Denmark follows Austria in offering financial incentives for Syrians to return home, albeit the Scandinavian offer is far more enticing. Vienna has offered €1,000 to all those willing to leave the country voluntarily, in addition to assistance in organizing travel and obtaining the necessary documentation.
NEW: 🇦🇹 Austria is offering €1,000 to all former Syrian refugees willing to return to their homeland in a bid to ramp up voluntary deportations following the fall of the Assad regime.
In addition to financial aid, assistance is being provided to organize travel and obtain… pic.twitter.com/Mau4qIjaSb
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 13, 2024Sweden is considering a more hardline approach with the Sweden Democrats — the right-wing party that props up the current center-right government — proposing the revocation of residence permits for Syrian refugees, asserting that refugee status should be temporary.
