Transfers from Switzerland to Italy to resume from end of August

Transfers from Switzerland to Italy will resume from the end of August Keystone-SDA

After a break of almost four years, Switzerland is resuming the transfer of asylum-seekers arriving from Italy.

“The first flights have been booked,” Magdalena Baker, spokesperson for the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), confirmed to Swiss public broadcaster SRF, explaining that the process will resume from the end of August and that, at present, these are only isolated cases.

The SEM has agreed with the Italian authorities that the resumption should take place gradually. “It is in Switzerland’s interest that the resumption be managed in a way that is sustainable for both parties, so that the system functions effectively in the long term and is not overburdened.”

In December 2022, shortly after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office, Italy suspended all readmissions of asylum-seekers, thereby breaching the Dublin Regulation on asylum.

The fact that Italy is now, in principle, once again willing to accept readmissions is linked to the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum. This pact, which came into force on June 12, provides financial support and other relief for Italy and other countries of first arrival for asylum-seekers. However, this is only on condition that the countries fulfil their obligations.

Rome, however, intends to readmit only those asylum-seekers who arrived after June 12, i.e. after the pact came into force. As far as Switzerland is concerned, the first returns will involve asylum-seekers who arrived after June 12.

“The new procedures must first be tested on the basis of current cases,” the SEM spokesperson explained to SRF, emphasising that no agreement had been concluded with Italy that would exclude asylum-seekers who arrived before June 12 from being returned.

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Translated from Italian, reviewed by an English Department journalist.