Germany no longer accepts immigrants from Italy “until further notice”

The issue has become very sensitive in Germany, against the backdrop of the rise of the far right in opinion polls and the increase in illegal immigration for several months. Berlin announced on Wednesday, September 13, that it would suspend the voluntary reception of asylum seekers from Italy, stipulated in European agreements, due to… ‘Strong migration pressure’ Rome refused to implement these same agreements. The German government informed Rome of its decision “end of august”A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior told AFP.

This comment ” until a further notice “ It concerns the “Voluntary European Solidarity Mechanism” that organizes the transfer of asylum seekers from the country of arrival to the European Union to other voluntary Member States, in order to reduce the burden on countries such as Italy and Greece, which are gateways to Europe.

Berlin explains this decision through “The current strong migration pressure towards Germany” And also by “The continued suspension of Dublin transfers by some member states.”including Italy, which “Reinforces the main challenges facing Germany regarding reception and accommodation capacities.”.

‘Deportation is secondary’

The Dublin Regulation, which is highly controversial among the 27 countries, stipulates that a migrant’s country of arrival in the EU processes his or her asylum claim. However, the German newspaper wrote Die Feltthe Italian government of Giorgia Meloni will no longer receive asylum seekers who wish to be transferred from other countries, after informing its partners in December 2022 that Italy no longer has sufficient reception capacity.

“Of the more than 12,400 support requests submitted to Italy this year until the end of August, ten transfers have been carried out so far.”Maximilian Kahl, spokesman for the German Interior Ministry, confirmed this during a government press conference.

Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right Fratelli d’Italia party won the legislative elections a year ago on a promise to end mass migration, confirmed on Wednesday that she was not surprised by Berlin’s decision.

“The transportation problem is secondary.”She insisted in an interview that will be broadcast today, Thursday, and Italian news agencies published excerpts from it. ” the question (…) It is stopping arrivals to Italy. I still don’t see any definitive answers.”She said. She reiterated her call for more assistance from the European Union, adding: “Our reception sites [des migrants] He’s full. »

“critical threshold”

For years, Italy has been one of the main gateways for migrants arriving by boat from North Africa to Europe. The number of people arriving via this route to Italian territory this year has jumped to nearly 124,000 since January, compared to 65,500 during the same period in 2022, according to government data.

Many of them end up on the island of Lampedusa, where the reception center warned on Wednesday that its capacity was likely to reach 100,000. “critical threshold”. The Italian Red Cross, which has managed the facilities designed to hold fewer than 400 people since June, lamented that more than 6,000 people were now there.

Under the voluntary transfer mechanism, Germany has so far agreed to transfer 1,700 asylum seekers who have arrived in southern Europe, out of 3,500 people it has committed to receiving. “Today we are facing a very tense situation in many municipalities in Germany”A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior confirmed.