Switzerland is set to resume the transfer of asylum seekers to Italy by the end of August, marking an end to the temporary suspension of such removals, Swiss public broadcaster SRF and other media outlets have reported.

According to SRF, the Swiss state secretariat for migration (SEM) said that the arrangements, including flight bookings, have been finalized to restart the transfer process. This move signifies a return to the strict application of the Dublin Regulation, which mandates that, in principle, asylum applications should be processed in the country of first entry into the European Union or Schengen Area.

The practice had been paused in December 2022 shortly after Georgia Meloni was sworn in as Italian Prime Minister, meaning Italy was not applying the Dublin Regulation during that period.

The restart reflects a tightening of migration policy as the Swiss government seeks to enforce existing agreements. Under the Dublin system, member states are entitled to return asylum seekers to the country where they were first registered.

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Will Italy set new conditions?

Italy’s renewed willingness to accept readmissions is linked to the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact, which entered into force on June 12, and ties financial relief to compliance with obligations. However, the government in Rome reportedly restricts returns to individuals who entered after the pact took effect. This policy has caused friction, leading to blocked transfers for those arriving prior to June 12. While Swiss officials are currently testing procedures with post-June 12 cases, they maintain that no formal agreement exists to exclude earlier arrivals from return.

According to SRF citing the SEM, Italy should have taken back a total of 3,784 asylum seekers from Switzerland since the end of 2022. Because Italy refused to do so, Switzerland was reportedly required to grant them asylum proceedings. Nearly 40 percent of them have since been granted protection in Switzerland, meaning they are allowed to stay. More than 1,300 people are currently undergoing Swiss asylum proceedings.

According to the SEM, Switzerland is at present able to send back only 652 people to Italy -- roughly one sixth of the original number.

The planned resumption of the Dublin transfers from Switzerland to Italy comes amid broader ongoing tensions regarding the distribution of responsibility for asylum seekers across Europe. Italy frequently receives a high volume of arrivals, often leading to disagreements between Rome and other European capitals over the administrative and financial burdens associated with processing and hosting these individuals.

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Criticism over 'Meloni model'

For asylum seekers, the transfers mean being returned to a system that has struggled with capacity and integration challenges. The resumption of these flights also highlights the ongoing debate over the efficacy and fairness of the current Dublin-based framework.

In Rome, the decision has moreover reignited fierce criticism from opposition parties. They argue that the government's migration strategy is failing to protect Italy's interests within the European bloc, accusing the administration of being unable to leverage its relationships with European counterparts to prevent such transfers.

"Germany and Switzerland are taking the Meloni model for migration policy so literally that they are now sending asylum seekers back to Italy. This is the logical consequence of our government's misguided, irrational, and propagandistic decisions, which prioritize a hard-line approach over European solidarity," said Riccardo Magi, chairman of liberal, pro-European party Più Europa.

For the opposition, the return of asylum seekers from Switzerland is tangible evidence of the limits of the government's current diplomatic approach, which they claim leaves Italy to shoulder a disproportionate share of the EU's migration management.

Simultaneously, the diplomatic stand-off between Germany and Italy continues. Just this week, Italy issued new threats for Germany to cooperate on Dublin returns. Some members of the Italian government have raised the issue of migrants rescued at sea by private NGOs operating under the German flag, linking it to broader exchanges with Berlin. 

The stated goal of said EU Pact on Migration and Asylum is to overcome the fragmented rules in migration policy. This includes the aforementioned Dublin Regulation, the third version of which was adopted in June 2013.

with SRF, Euronews