Jens Spahn, a senior member of Germany’s opposition Christian Democrats ( cdu ), suggested handing €1,000 ($1,050) to any Syrian who wished to go home. Austria’s government even instructed officials to prepare deportation plans.

Najem al-Moussa was delighted when news of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow first beamed from the television in his tiny Athens apartment.

European countries have announced a freeze on asylum procedures for Syrians, despite Syria's highly uncertain future following the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime. The rise of far-right parties and the memory of the 2015 migration crisis have hardened the discourse.

Several countries, including France and Germany, have announced that they are suspending decisions on asylum applications from Syria. Far-right parties, meanwhile, have re-opened a political and legal debate on refugee deportation.

As Syria enters the post-Assad era, EU policymakers need to learn from their failed approach to the country's civil war. The post Europe Needs to Update Its Thinking for a Post-Assad Syria appeared first on World Politics Review.

While governments urge caution, calls are rising across Europe for Syrians who fled the Assad regime to return.

The fall of Assad's regime has forced the EU to reconsider its long-standing policy.

Syria has produced the largest number of migrants in Europe, the eighth annul report on asylum rights by the Catholic Migrantes Foundation said Wednesday. "Unfortunately, the Syrian situation has recently returned to the forefront,