Migrants, Berlin: pushbacks to Italy and Greece on the cards. The Interior Ministry: no returns for those who arrived before 12 June

Italia has not yet really resumed accepting asylum seekers transferred from other EU Member States. ‘A receiving Member State cannot refuse a transfer and must propose an alternative date’ for it to take place. This was stated by the European Commission in its 15 July assessment of the status of asylum seeker transfers to Italia and Greece, calling on Rome “to urgently remove all remaining obstacles, including by discontinuing the practices that have so far prevented transfers, and to ensure the necessary commitment and operational cooperation with other Member States on all practical and logistical aspects, so that transfers are effectively carried out”. ‘At this stage, there are no concrete indications’ from Italia ‘that the practices provided for in the Dublin III Regulation – and in particular with regard to the suspension of the reception of transfers, with the exception of cases of family reunification involving unaccompanied minors – no longer persist’, writes the EU Executive, adding that ‘at present, there are no indications that the Italian authorities have actively engaged with other Member States on the practical and logistical measures required to resume transfers’. During the first few weeks of the implementation of the EU Regulation on the management of asylum and migration (AMMR), namely between 12 June and 7 July, ‘eight Member States provided the Commission with information regarding requests for the taking into custody’ of migrants: 12 transfers were requested from Italia, but Italia rejected them. These are the so-called ‘Dublin cases’, migrants who, after entering Italia, moved irregularly to another EU country, creating what is known as a ‘secondary movement’. Under the Dublin Regulation, the second country requests that they be transferred back to Italia, the country responsible for processing their asylum application.

On 19 August, the first asylum seeker will be turned away from our country. She is a 22-year-old Somali woman named Abdirisaq Warsame, who arrived in Germany in March. Under the Dublin Regulation, it is explained, as the young woman first entered the EU via Italia, she should have applied for asylum in this country.

Since 2022, the Meloni government had refused to take back the so-called ‘Dublin cases’. In December 2025, an agreement was signed by Rome and Berlin a “clean slate” regarding past cases, but a spokesperson for the German Ministry of the Interior explained to *La Repubblica* that, for “Dublin cases” arriving this year, Germany intends to strictly apply European rules and therefore plans to return them to Italia. “A functioning Dublin system is a prerequisite for the success of the European Asylum Reform (GEAS),” said the spokesperson. Germany expects transfers to Italia and Greece to resume from the aforementioned date”, namely 12 June, the day the new European asylum rules come into force.

It is still unclear exactly how many people are currently facing deportation to Italia. The 22-year-old Somali woman, who will be the first to be deported to Italia, is currently living in a reception centre in Niederwerrn, Bavaria. On 25 June, she received a letter from the German Ministry of the Interior. ‘On Wednesday 19 August,’ the document states, ‘you will be transferred to Italia. The police will come to collect you.’ The young woman, who had fled from her father and an arranged marriage, arrived in Germany on 31 March after travelling through Italy. Her mother, brother and other relatives are already living in Germany, and it was in Germany that she had applied for asylum. However, the German Ministry of the Interior has stated that the Somali woman “falls under Italia’s jurisdiction” and that “the conditions are not met” for an asylum application in Germany.

The document therefore states that Abdirisaq Warsame ‘must be taken back by Italia’. A request to the Italian authorities to take back the asylum seeker had already been submitted in June; once the standard two-week period within which the Italian authorities were required to respond to the German authorities had elapsed, tacit consent was deemed to have been given. “The request” to take Warsame back “is deemed to have been accepted”, the letter concludes.

Meanwhile, tensions with Spain also remain high: “We hope Italia will respond and realise that the Schengen area has not been breached and remains secure.” So said the Spanish government’s third vice-president and Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, who sought to emphasise that the migration crisis in Ceuta has remained confined to the autonomous city. “No one has reached the Iberian Peninsula,” she emphasised in statements to the media. For Aagesen, “defending the dignity of Spanish citizens” is the number one priority of the Madrid government, which has temporarily reinstated internal border controls at ports and airports for travellers arriving from Italy, justifying the decision on the grounds of ‘migration pressure on the Central Mediterranean route’. A temporary measure which, according to Aagesen, aims to prompt Italy to ‘take action’.

“The risk of terrorism and the risk of illegal immigration cannot be underestimated. That is why, until 15 August, Italia will not be able to change its decision to suspend the Schengen Agreement for flights and ships arriving from Spain. After that, once the situation has returned to normal, we are ready to restore the previous arrangements.” So said the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani, on Radio Rai’s GR programme.