Justice minister: ‘No sign of movement’ on Italy asylum blockage

On the border between Switzerland and Italy in the southern canton of Graubünden. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Italy’s refusal to readmit asylum seekers turned back from Switzerland will probably last for months, according to Swiss Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.

“The pressure at Italy’s southern border is enormous, which is why this attitude is partly understandable,” Baume-Schneider said in an interview published on Thursday by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper.

Italy announced last December it was temporarily suspending application of the Dublin Agreement, saying it was struggling to cope with a large number of new migrants crossing the Mediterranean sea by boat.

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The Dublin Agreement, which governs asylum rules in the European Union and associate states like Switzerland, says the country where an asylum application is first handed in is responsible for processing it.

Bern has asked Italy to readmit 300 asylum seekers, Baume-Schneider told the NZZ; for 40 of these, the responsibility has now passed to Switzerland, six months having passed since their arrival.

However, the minister said it was not necessary to put additional pressure on Rome, even if she sees “no sign that things are moving”. “We have to find a solution by discussing with Italy. I will soon be meeting with [Italian] Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi”, she said.

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Baume-Schneider added that a reform of the Dublin Agreement should be pushed forward to before European Parliament elections, scheduled for spring 2024.

As part of such a reform, she advocates for stricter controls at the external borders of the Schengen area, notably to turn back people coming to Europe for economic reasons, rather than asylum. She also calls for more solidarity between European countries in the distribution of refugees.