Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock of The Greens party has called for more migrants to come to her country.
Connecting the low birthrate in Germany with the need for new people to fill the void, she made her comments at the reopening of the German embassy in Damascus, Syria.
“Germany is a country with not a very strong birth rate so we need migrants, otherwise our country will not be running in the future anymore,” Baerbock said on March 24.
“Therefore we also need people who speak German. Unfortunately, it is not the most easy language in the world. That is why we have an interest worldwide in having German schools and German universities.”
„Wir brauchen Migranten!“ – Mit einem Strahlen hat die grüne Außenministerin Annalena #Baerbock in Syrien um noch mehr Migranten geworben. https://t.co/TPjRW0DCBy pic.twitter.com/vk6EA69vRe
— NIUS (@niusde_) March 24, 2025
Baerbock is set to become UN General Assembly President in 2025/26, after having usurped Helga Schmid, a seasoned diplomat initially nominated for the role, in a move some observers called “shameless”.
It was the second time in a short period that Baerbock had made an official visit to Syria.
In January this year, she was criticised when she ignored that fact that Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Syrian President, made an effort to shake the hand of France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, but not hers.
This was was seen as pandering to radical Islam, despite Baerbock’s stated goal of encouraging women’s rights under the new regime and her self-declared “feminist foreign policy”.
According to outlet Apollo News, al-Sharaa demonstratively refused to shake Baerbock’s hand again during the second state visit.
The German embassy in Damascus has been opened despite alleged grave human rights violations committed under the new interim government. The EU has been supportive of the new regime.
Between March 6 and 9, a wave of mass killings was reported in the Alawite region of the country.
Following an alleged initial attack by so-called Assad loyalists, government-aligned forces responded with extreme brutality.
More than 1,000 people reportedly died and images were circulated apparently of Sunni Islamist militants loyal to al-Sharaa’s government calling for the “ethnic cleansing” of Alawites, together with video’s of Alawites and Christians seemingly being humiliated by armed men.
Shortly after the alleged violence took place, the European Union promised to send more financial aid to Syria. On March 17 it pledged €2.5 billion in support “for a successful transition” of the government.
Germany promised €50 million to supply the country with food and medicine after it had already pledged €8 million in humanitarian aid and announced that it wanted to “measure the HTS militia by its deeds”.
The Alawites, a Shia minority on Syria are being ethnically cleansed by leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's thugs.
— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) March 7, 2025
The Alawites mainly live in the west. pic.twitter.com/vd4vbq9GjJ