Germany announced today that it is suspending the voluntary acceptance of asylum seekers from Italy, provided for in European agreements, due to “strong migration pressure” and Rome’s refusal to implement these agreements, France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The German government informed Rome of its decision at the end of August, a German interior ministry spokesman told AFP.
The suspension of admission until further notice refers to the voluntary European Solidarity Mechanism, which regulates the transfer of asylum seekers from the country of arrival in the European Union to other member states to relieve countries such as Italy or Greece, which are entry points to Europe.
Berlin justifies this decision with the current strong migration pressure to Germany, as well as the permanent suspension of Dublin Regulation transfers from some member states, including Italy, which reinforces the major challenges facing Germany in terms of reception and accommodation capacity.
The Dublin Regulation, which causes much controversy between member states, stipulates that the country of arrival of a migrant in the EU processes his asylum application.
However, according to Germany’s Welt newspaper, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government is no longer taking back asylum seekers that other countries want to transfer to Italy, notifying its partners in December 2022 that the country no longer has the capacity for that.
“Out of more than 12,400 such requests made to Italy by the end of August this year, 10 transfers have been carried out so far,” confirmed Maximilian Kahl, a spokesman for the German interior ministry, at a press conference.
Under the voluntary transfer mechanism, Germany has so far accepted 1,700 asylum seekers who have arrived in southern Europe, out of a total of 3,500 people it has committed to welcoming.
Italy, ruled since October 2022 by the government of Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right “Brothers of Italy” party, has for years been one of the main entry points for migration by sea from Africa to Europe.
The topic remains highly sensitive in Germany as well, amid the rise of the far right in opinion polls and the rise of illegal immigration for several months.
“Today we are facing a very tense situation in many municipalities in Germany,” said the spokesman for the German interior ministry.
Place a rating:
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
3
Rating 3 out of 3 votes.
2023-09-13 17:23:00
#Germany #longer #accepting #migrants #Italy
