Dispute over Dublin refugees
Italy is stubborn
The expectations of Switzerland and other Dublin countries were disappointed: Italy continues to refuse to take back refugees for whose asylum applications the country is actually responsible according to the Dublin agreement.
Published: 37 minutes ago
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Updated: 36 minutes ago
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Border guards keep picking up illegal migrants at Chiasso train station. However, they still cannot be brought back to Italy.
The borders remain closed. Italy continues on its hard course. Because new migrants are constantly arriving from the Mediterranean, the new government of Giorgia Meloni (45) has not taken back Dublin refugees since the beginning of December.
With the freeze on admissions, Italy wants to put pressure on other European countries to take on more refugees. In Italy itself, the recording capacities are exhausted. Switzerland is therefore unable to repatriate around 170 people, although Italy would be responsible as the entry country according to the Dublin Agreement. The migration situation is also tense in this country.
The wait continues
The Dublin states concerned had actually been informed that the admission freeze would end after the holidays. But the hope was disappointed. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) expected that Italy would take back Dublin refugees by January 6 at the latest: “This expectation is shared by other affected Dublin states.”
But the admission freeze from the entire Dublin area still applies. «The Swiss authorities are in close contact and constant exchange, both at an operational and political level, with the Italian authorities, the European Commission and the other European countries directly affected by this decision, in order to actively seek solutions to this problem », assures SEM spokesman Lukas Rieder.
The Swiss authorities continue to hope “that the admission freeze will be lifted soon”.
“The asylum system has failed”
At the political level, however, Italy’s freeze on admissions caused red heads. “The asylum system has failed,” rumbled SVP President Marco Chiesa (48). The unilateral breach of contract by the new Italian government clearly shows that the Schengen-Dublin system is not working. The EU’s external borders are still not sufficiently protected.
SVP President Chiesa had even demanded that asylum seekers who had entered the country illegally be deported to an African country. He referred to the example of Great Britain, which has concluded an agreement with Rwanda. Asylum applications should in future be examined in Rwanda and not in Great Britain. This is to discourage people from crossing the English Channel to the island.
For its part, the Federal Council does not consider such plans to be realistic for Switzerland. He will have to wait for Italy to take over Dublin refugees. (dba)