Diplomatic stand-off between Germany and Italy over Dublin migrant transfers
Germany and Italy are locked in a growing dispute over the transfer of asylum seekers under the EU’s Dublin system, exposing tensions over who should take responsibility for migrants who first entered Europe through Italy.
Under the Dublin rules, responsibility for examining an asylum application can fall on the EU country where the applicant first entered or was registered. Germany has therefore sought to return some asylum seekers to Italy, arguing that Italian authorities should take responsibility for their cases.
The dispute is particularly significant because Italy has previously suspended most incoming Dublin transfers. According to the European Union Agency for Asylum, transfers to Italy remained very low after Italy’s Dublin unit issued a circular at the end of 2022 temporarily suspending incoming transfers, apart from certain family reunification cases involving unaccompanied minors.
Germany is one of the EU’s biggest users of the Dublin procedure. In 2024, Germany submitted more than 74,000 outgoing Dublin requests and carried out about 5,800 transfers, the highest number among EU countries. Italy, meanwhile, received more than 42,000 incoming requests, the largest total in the bloc.
The disagreement comes at a particularly sensitive moment because the EU’s new migration and asylum framework began replacing the Dublin system in 2026. The new rules maintain the principle that one member state is responsible for an asylum application while introducing updated procedures for transfers and greater cooperation between EU countries.
Germany’s pressure on Italy highlights a broader problem facing the European asylum system: countries on the EU’s external borders, particularly Mediterranean states, have long argued that they carry a disproportionate share of responsibility for people arriving irregularly. Northern European countries, meanwhile, want the rules to ensure that migrants cannot simply move onward and lodge new asylum claims elsewhere.
The European Commission is now closely monitoring how member states cooperate under the new framework. It has specifically said that cooperation over transfers and practical arrangements will be an important part of assessing whether countries are properly applying the new responsibility rules.
The confrontation between Berlin and Rome therefore goes beyond a dispute over individual transfers. It is becoming an early test of whether Europe’s revamped asylum system can actually force member states to share responsibility — or whether disagreements between countries will continue to block migrant transfers.