Italy is refusing to change its policy on taking back illegal migrants from other European Union countries. Since the new Common European Asylum System (CEAS) came into force on June 12, it has rejected all 12 return requests submitted by Germany, despite the new rules requiring it to accept them.
According to a report by Junge Freiheit, citing a European Commission assessment, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government is refusing to cooperate with other member states and is not even proposing alternative dates for transfers. The Commission has called on Italy to stop obstructing the return process.
Italy’s position also casts doubt on earlier claims by German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who said he had reached an agreement with Italy and Greece on migrant returns. In December 2025, Dobrindt announced that both countries had agreed to take back migrants who had entered the European Union through their territory. However, Italy has not honoured that understanding, and neither Dobrindt nor the German government has publicly criticised Rome.
The Commission’s review of the first three weeks of the new asylum system found that Cyprus and Spain are complying with the new rules. It did not assess Greece because the legal deadlines for responding to the eight return requests it had received had not yet expired. Italy, by contrast, was criticised for failing to cooperate with the new return procedures.
