The Italian government is pushing back against Germany’s efforts to resume sending back illegal migrants who entered E.U. territory through Italy in the past.
According to Italian outlets, the government of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is seeking to enforce the European Union’s widely controversial Dublin Regulations, which grants E.U. member states nations the ability to send alleged asylum seekers back to the E.U. country in which the migrant first entered E.U. territory.
Italy, under the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, suspended the application of the Dublin Regulations in 2022. Germany, however, reportedly wants to resume such transfers in light of the European Union’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which went into effect on June 12.
The situation has led to a potentially new migration-related impasse between Rome and Dublin at a time Italy holds one such impasse with Spain in the aftermath of the massive migrant invasion of the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that Chancellor Merz has decided to adopt a “hardline” stance on migration, starting with Italy. Per the newspaper, Germany wants to resume transfers of alleged asylum seekers under the Dublin Regulations starting on August 19. On that day, Berlin Plans to send back 22 year-old Somali national Abdirisaq Warsame, who arrived in Germany in March.
Warsame allegedly arrived to E.U. territory through Italy — thus, Berlin reportedly argued, she will be sent back to Italy, who should handle her asylum case and not Germany. According to German outlets, the Somalian woman is currently living in Niederwerrn, Bavaria.
La Repubblica affirms that Merz’s reportedly “hardline” stance on migration is attributable to the continued rise of the anti-mass migration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in the polls.
A German Interior Ministry spokesperson reportedly told La Repubblica that Germany intends to strictly apply Dublin Regulations to migrants who arrived this year. The spokesperson did not specify the amount of migrants that Germany intends to send to Italy under such terms.
“A functioning Dublin system is a prerequisite for the success of the European asylum reform,” the spokesperson reportedly said. “Germany expects transfers to Italy and Greece to resume from the aforementioned date.”
The Italian government, however, dissents with Germany’s assertions. Sources from the Italian Interior Ministry affirmed to Sky TG24 and other Italian outlets such as Rai News and Ansa that several E.U. member states — including Germany, Italy, and Greece — allegedly adopted a “clean slate” in all Dublin Regulations-related cases of migrants that arrived prior to June 12 and thus Italy will take no migrants back under said terms. This stance, the sources asserted, stems from specific agreements signed between the involved countries.
Furthermore, the sources noted that it is presently “too premature to imagine individuals who arrived in Italy after that date that are being present in other countries” given that “insufficient time has passed to verify such cases.”
Lastly, the sources emphasized that Italy intends to “insist on a necessary balancing mechanism” that takes into account migrants brought to Italian territory by NGO vessels “flying the flags of European countries,” flags that, per the sources, “are German” in the majority of the instances.