Germany Stops Admitting Migrants From Italy 'Until Further Notice'

The German Interior Ministry has paused acceptance of new migrants who arrived in Europe via Italy for the time being, reportedly over Rome’s refusal to abide by a European Union agreement on refugees.

According to reports in German media on Thursday, Berlin has suspended admittance of new refugees from Italy "until further notice," citing "high migrant pressure." The change reportedly took effect late last month.

The reports indicate the contentious issue is the Dublin Regulation, a 1990 agreement governing how refugees are accepted for asylum in EU nations after applying for international protection under the Geneva Convention. Part of the agreement stipulates that the EU country of entry is responsible for processing the migrants’ applications and for reaccepting them if they apply for protection in a second EU country.

According to German media reports, Rome told other EU member states in December 2022 it was canceling “for a limited period of time” its reacceptance of migrants from other countries due to "suddenly arising technical" issues related to its intake capacity. However, it has remained on hold ever since.

The change came about two months after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office. The politician campaigned heavily against accepting more migrants, especially non-Christians, even calling for a naval blockade to stop the refugee craft from crossing the Mediterranean.

The protocol has strained heavily under the weight of the refugee crisis since 2015, which has been driven by conflicts in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and Nigeria, most of whom have entered the EU via Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria. EU nations have agreed voluntarily to accept a certain amount of refugees from the entry-point countries to "share the burden," prompting sharp disputes about how many migrants is "too many." The conflict in Ukraine, from which millions of Christians have fled to the EU, has only further complicated those debates.

Meloni’s government declared a six-month state of emergency in April "to carry out with urgency extraordinary measures to reduce congestion" at Lampedusa, an Italian island off the coast of Tunisia that has become the main migrant entry point into the country. The government said it needs to build "new structures, suitable both for sheltering as well as the processing and repatriation of migrants who don't have the requisites to stay" in Italy.

Despite the situation, some 89,158 people have arrived in Italy on small boats from North Africa since the beginning of the year, equivalent to 5,000 per day at Lampedusa - a 115% increase over the same period in the prior year, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.