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00:00As we've been mentioning a number of countries including Germany, France and Austria say
00:04they'll halt asylum requests from Syrians. Vienna has gone one step further announcing
00:09plans today to deport Syrian migrants. Berlin and other governments say they are watching
00:14developments in Syria very closely. Far-right politicians are calling for their governments
00:19to follow in Austria's footsteps including in Germany. It's home to Europe's largest
00:25Syrian community. There's 1.3 million people Syrians there in Germany and of course it's
00:31all coming at a time when immigration has become a hot-button issue across the continent. Well
00:36let's speak to France 24's former correspondent Nick Holdsworth who joins us from Berlin. Nick,
00:42break down for us this move by these European countries to pause asylum requests for Syrians.
00:50Well there appears to be a wave of political opportunism taking place across Europe with
00:55Germany pausing 47,000 Syrian asylum applications. The Austrians saying they're going to deport
01:03Syrians as you've just said there. France pausing I think it's a few thousand applications. The
01:09Swedes, the Finns, the Danes, the Norwegians and the UK that Philip has just mentioned there
01:15are all pausing applications. In the meantime the UNHCR, that's the United Nations High
01:22Commission on Refugees, they've warned that this may be a little bit precipitate. They're saying
01:28that 90% of Syrians in Syria are surviving on humanitarian aid. Winter is coming up. They're
01:34advising taking it slowly and gauging how this may impact people. At the same time I've been
01:41talking to Syrian friends and colleagues here in Berlin and some of them are very keen to go
01:46back. In fact one young man I know who was taking an intensive German course sent a message to his
01:52teacher and his fellow classmates saying it's been nice knowing you. Thanks so much for all
01:58the hard work in the classroom but I'm off back to Damascus. Some of his friends have said you know
02:04that may be a little bit hasty but certainly there is a great urge amongst the Syrian diaspora to
02:10return home and help rebuild their state in a new and hopefully democratic manner. Nix Holdsworth
02:17our former correspondent there in Berlin, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed there.