Germany plans first asylum returns to Italy under new EU rules, reports say

Germany’s Interior Ministry and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees plan to use provisions of the revised Common European Asylum System to return asylum seekers to Italy. The reports describe the first planned transfers as including a woman from Russia. [1][2]

The revised European asylum rules have allowed the German authorities to pursue such returns since taking effect on June 12. The reports frame the transfers as part of a new European solidarity mechanism, although its practical application remains contested. [1][2]

A concrete attempt was made in August, when German authorities placed three people on a deportation flight. Italy’s Interior Ministry stopped the transfer, and one affected Somali woman has since been living in church asylum in Bavaria. [1][2]

The reporting says Italy is not equipped for mass returns from countries such as Germany. It describes refugees already living in inadequate accommodation or on the streets, and identifies the Somali woman as someone who had previously been near Milan’s central railway station before travelling onward to Germany. [1][2]

The reports say Giorgia Meloni has apparently agreed to returns, despite Italy’s political dispute over the asylum rules and the country’s pressure ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. The extent and final implementation of that agreement are not established in the available material. [1][2]