Europe09 August, 20263 min read
Germany’s Merz Seeks Asylum Transfers to Italy and Greece After June 12 Pact
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Germany seeks to transfer asylum seekers who entered via Italy and Greece. Italy resists Dublin returns, demanding mechanism functioning before transfers.
Dublin returns reignite
Germany’s government, led by chancellor Friedrich Merz, wants to resume transfers of asylum seekers to Italy and Greece after the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact entered into force on June 12, with Berlin arguing that the functioning of the Dublin system is “an indispensable condition” for the Common European Asylum System. Italian Interior Ministry sources cited by ANSA said there are “no Dublin migrants to take back from Germany,” arguing that alleged “Dublin migrants” who moved to another EU member state after landing in Italy before June 12 are cleared under agreements reached with some countries. The dispute is framed around timing: Italy says it will not accept returns until the pact’s rules apply, while Germany expects transfers to restart “from that date,” and both sides tie their positions to whether the solidarity mechanism is operational.
In a concrete case highlighted by multiple outlets, a 22-year-old Somali woman, Abdirisaq Warsame, is set to be transferred from Bavaria to Italy on August 19, after arriving in Germany at the end of March and being held in a reception center in Niederwerrn, in Bavière. Lithuania’s Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said the pact entered into force across the EU on June 12 and that Lithuania will evaluate how the Migration and Asylum Pact is functioning after it takes over the rotating EU Council presidency on January 1, 2027.
Quotes and competing frames
A German Interior Ministry spokesman told ANSA that Berlin expects transfers to Italy and Greece to resume from June 12, while Italian Interior Ministry sources told the same agency that it is “still too early” to establish whether migrants who arrived in Italy after June 12 are currently in other EU countries. ANSA also reported that Italy will argue for a “compensation” mechanism for irregular migrants who arrived after June 12 aboard vessels operated by NGOs flying European flags, while the Italian sources said Germany rejects that approach by maintaining the NGOs are private organizations receiving no instruction from the German government. In a separate account of the same political clash, Les Echos quoted a German Interior Ministry spokesperson saying the proper functioning of the Dublin system is a “necessary condition for its success,” and it described Chancellor Merz’s demand that Italy and Greece take back “secondary migrants.”
Les Echos said the Italian Interior Ministry responded that no migrant who arrived before June 12 can be re-imposed, citing a bilateral agreement concluded at the end of 2025 between Italy and Germany that canceled transfers for earlier arrivals. The dispute is also presented as part of a broader diplomatic friction after the Ceuta episode, with Al-Jazirah Net describing Meloni mobilizing Europe against “uncontrolled migration” and raising the question of whether the Dublin rules will lead to a confrontation with Berlin.
What’s at stake next
Lithuania’s Katelynas said the pact could limit the ability of border authorities to operate effectively at the EU’s external borders, pointing to “tens of thousands who flooded Ceuta” and arguing that the pact should not prevent member states from taking measures to protect security. He said Lithuania will assess how the new rules work in practice after it takes over the rotating EU Council presidency on January 1, 2027, and after an initial assessment could compile proposals from member states and pass them to Greece, which will hold the presidency after Lithuania. The LRT report added that under the EU’s solidarity mechanism Lithuania plans to relocate 58 migrants from Cyprus and make a financial contribution of 1.14 million euros, describing the government’s plan to meet obligations through relocation and financial contributions.
Al-Jazirah Net framed the Dublin confrontation as a potential test for Italy under the new Migration and Asylum Pact that began to take effect on June 12, noting that the German government has officially announced its intention to return asylum-seekers arriving from Italy. In the same reporting thread, Al-Jazirah Net cited Bild’s quotation of the Interior Ministry about deporting Abdirisaq Warsame to Italy on August 19 and said Germany in 2025 submitted about 35,900 transfer requests of asylum-seekers’ files, with about 23,900 approved and only about 5,370 transfers actually carried out.