After Germany and Switzerland, Austria has also started transferring asylum seekers back to Italy. Since the new EU asylum and migration pact came into force on June 12, four people have already been brought to Italy, the Italian news agencies LaPresse and ANSA reported on Wednesday, citing the Austrian Interior Ministry.
The transfers of the first four “Dublin cases” were carried out using public transport. According to the new rules, the responsible authority can provide a person obliged to leave the country with a train or bus ticket to return them to the EU state responsible for the asylum procedure.
“Dublin cases” refer to people who first arrived in an EU country and then traveled to another member state to apply for asylum there. According to European jurisdiction rules, the country of first entry is generally responsible for examining the asylum application.
Austria is following the approach of Germany and Switzerland
Austria is following the approach of Germany and Switzerland, which are also transferring people back to Italy. The Austrian Interior Ministry did not initially say how many other people could be affected. It also remained unclear whether the regulation only applies to people who entered the country after June 12th or also to asylum seekers who had already entered the country beforehand.
According to Eurostat, Italy could have to take back a total of more than 24,000 people who traveled on to other European countries after arriving in Italy. So far, however, only 85 of these people have actually returned to Italy.
The question of which cases the new EU pact should be applied to is particularly controversial. The Italian government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni takes the position that return transfers should only concern those so-called Dublin cases who traveled on after June 12th. The number of those affected would therefore be comparatively small. Other governments, especially Germany, are interpreting the new rules more broadly.