With Assad gone, the EU wonders: Should Syrian refugees be sent back?

The fall of Bashar al-Assad has prompted complex questions about the future of the one million Syrians who fled the war and sought refuge in Europe.

Transcript

00:00The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has brought hope to Syrians in the EU that they

00:11can finally return to their homeland.

00:14But change could happen faster than expected.

00:17European countries including Germany, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, France and Sweden announced

00:23that they would review their asylum practices, mainly by freezing the asylum procedures of

00:29newcomers.

00:30Austria went one step further, announcing plans to start deporting migrants back to

00:36Syria.

00:37For some MEPs, it's too early to make such a decision.

00:41Deporting people back to Syria, I think it's much too early to do that because we don't

00:45know what will happen next.

00:48Will the country live in peace or will different groups start fighting each other and making

00:53things even worse?

00:54So to think about deportation, bringing people back is much too early and we shouldn't do

00:58that at this moment.

01:00While some member states are already talking about sending Syrians back, others are concerned

01:06that more refugees could arrive to Europe.

01:08It remains to be seen whether the Islamist groups that have seized power will respect

01:13the different religious groups that make up Syria and also whether new tensions between

01:18the different factions do not erupt.

01:20Cyprus could be specifically affected in case of a new refugee wave.

01:26At the moment, we don't have a stable government in Syria.

01:29Things will be clear once we have a stable government.

01:33By not having a stable government, there is a huge risk that we have a lot of immigration

01:39from Syria, not only to Cyprus but to other European Union countries.

01:45According to the Cypriot MEP, member states are waiting for guidance from the European

01:50Commission.

01:52So far, the institution says that the situation in the field is evolving and needs to be monitored.

02:00But they have reminded member states that asylum claims have to be assessed on an individual,

02:05case-by-case basis.