🔶 Resumption of transferring refugees to Italy; end of the four-year suspension of Dublin rules in Europe

After nearly four years of interruption, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Finland have decided to resume transferring refugees to Italy under the “Dublin Regulations.”

Under these rules, the country that a refugee first entered (through the registration of fingerprints in the Eurodac system) is responsible for examining their asylum application.

The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero has estimated that the number of requests to hand over refugees from European countries to Italy could reach around 80,000 cases by the end of 2026. Of course, this figure does not mean the final extradition of all these individuals, since there are multiple legal processes and operational challenges along the way.

On December 5, 2022, Italy suspended the acceptance of refugees from other European countries due to a lack of capacity in its reception system and the arrival of a heavy wave of migrants. Between 2018 and 2022, a total of 17,605 refugees had been returned to Italy.