(AP) Some European Union countries on Thursday doubled down on their decision to rapidly halt asylum procedures for Syrian migrants in Europe, but said that it was too early to consider sending any of the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled since 2011 back home.
Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and non-EU country Norway suspended asylum applications from Syrians in the wake of Bashar Assad’s fall. France is weighing whether to take similar action, at least until Syria’s new leadership and security conditions become clearer.
The decisions do not mean that Syrian asylum-seekers will be deported. The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, has said that currently “the conditions are not met for safe, voluntary, dignified returns to Syria.”
