Berlin, Germany – Germany’s efforts to transfer asylum seekers back to other European Union countries under the Dublin Regulation faced significant challenges in 2023.
According to government figures released in response to a parliamentary request, Germany submitted over 74,000 requests for other EU nations to accept migrants last year. However, only a small fraction – roughly 5,000 – were actually transferred.
The Dublin Regulation assigns responsibility for processing asylum claims to the first EU country an asylum seeker enters. However, the system has come under strain due to uneven arrival patterns and disagreements between member states.
The vast majority (over 38,000) of Germany’s transfer requests failed. Reasons included refusals by other EU countries or legal challenges by asylum seekers themselves. Notably, Germany only managed to transfer 11 asylum seekers to Italy out of over 15,000 requests. Austria, on the other hand, accepted the most transfers (over 1,500).
The German Interior Ministry acknowledged the difficulties and expressed commitment to working with the European Commission and other member states to improve the implementation of the Dublin procedure.