Migration: Vize-Regierungschef: Italien nimmt keine Flüchtlinge zurück

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has stated that Italy will not return any migrants to Germany, despite new EU rules, until further notice. The leader of the right-wing Lega party explained this is because German aid organizations with ships in the Mediterranean take in refugees and then bring them to Italy. Some of these refugees then travel on to Germany.

Governments in Rome and Berlin are arguing over how to deal with so-called secondary migrants. Salvini, who is Transport Minister in right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said at a party meeting in northern Italy's Trieste: "Germany has no right to send us a single illegal immigrant, as long as German NGO ships are operating in the Mediterranean to bring thousands of illegal immigrants to Italy and Europe."

The Lega leader has been extremely tough towards boat refugees and aid organizations in the past, even as Head of the Interior Ministry. Since mid-June, roughly 80,000 rejection requests have been returned under a new EU asylum and migration pact (Geas). Underlying this is the Dublin Regulation, which states that every migrant must make their asylum claim in the first EU country they entered.

Despite this, Rome has not returned a single migrant from Germany since the pact came into effect in mid-June. Prior to this, Italy officially rejected about 80,000 secondary asylum requests from other states since 2023, citing an overburdened national intake system. According to Italian media reports, a meeting between Interior Ministers Matteo Piantedosi and Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) may soon be held to discuss the dispute between Rome and Berlin.