Tensions between Berlin and Rome has reached the point of Germany announcing that it will stop accepting immigrants coming from Italy, because of “great immigration pressure,” while experts attribute the reason for the recent German escalation to the policy of the extreme right ruling in Rome.
Germany announced on Wednesday, September 13, that it had suspended “until further notice” the voluntary reception of asylum seekers coming from Italy stipulated in European agreements, due to “significant migration pressure” and Rome’s refusal to implement the agreements themselves.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that the German government informed Rome of its decision “at the end of August.” According to the “Amal, Berlin!” website.
This decision relates “until further notice” to the “Voluntary European Solidarity Mechanism” that organizes the transfer of asylum seekers from the country of arrival in the European Union to other member states to ease the burden on countries such as Italy or Greece that are ports of entry for migrants to Europe.
Berlin justified this decision by “the current great immigration pressure on Germany” as well as “the continued suspension of transfers from some member states,” including Italy, which “reinforces the major challenges facing Germany in terms of reception and accommodation capabilities.”
Italy refuses to take back migrants fleeing to Germany, in violation of the rules of the European Union’s Dublin Agreement, which requires the migrant’s country of arrival in the European Union to deal with their asylum request.
According to the German newspaper “Die Welt”, the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is no longer receiving asylum seekers who other countries want to transfer to it after it made clear in December 2022 to its partners that it was no longer able to receive more of them.
Italy, led since October 2022 by Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, has for years been one of the main gateways for migration by sea from Africa to Europe.
On the other hand, this issue has become very sensitive in Germany due to the rise of the far-right in opinion polls and the increase in irregular immigration for months. The Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed, “Today we are facing a very tense situation in many regions of Germany.”
It is noteworthy that Germany is not the only one suffering from the high number of migrants arriving there, but also Lampedusa, as the arrival of a record number of migrants by boat to the Italian island of Lampedusa prompted the island authorities to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday (September 13), and the authorities recorded the arrival More than 5,100 people in 24 hours.
It is noteworthy that the number of migrants far exceeds the accommodation allocated to them in Lampedusa. It is not clear how much the emergency declaration will affect the island. The far-right government in Italy issued a nationwide disaster declaration last April due to immigration.