Germany is signaling that migrant and asylum transfers to Greece could resume under the European Union’s new migration framework, raising fresh questions only months after Athens declared that it had cleared outstanding obligations from the previous system.
The issue has emerged alongside a growing dispute between Germany and Italy over the return of asylum seekers to the EU country deemed responsible for examining their cases.
Berlin has adopted a tougher position on secondary migration and, according to recent reports, expects responsibility transfers to countries including Italy and Greece to operate under the EU’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum. The framework entered into application on June 12, 2026.
For Greece, however, the situation is more complex than a simple return to the old Dublin system.
Greece’s “clean slate” under the old system
The Greek government announced in March that agreements reached with Germany and other European countries would effectively clear Greece of outstanding obligations connected with cases accumulated under the previous migration framework.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said at the time that the arrangements would create a “clean slate” when the new European migration rules came into force, ending Greece’s responsibility for older pending return cases.
That announcement was politically significant for Athens, which for years has argued that Greece, as one of Europe’s main external borders, has carried a disproportionate share of the migration burden.
But the June 12 introduction of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum has created a new legal and administrative framework for determining which EU member state is responsible for an asylum application.
The result is that while Greece may no longer be responsible for clearing a backlog of old cases, it could once again receive transfers under the new rules.
Germany’s tougher approach to secondary migration
Germany has been seeking to strengthen enforcement against asylum seekers who move from one EU country to another after entering the bloc.
Under the previous Dublin framework, Germany sent a large number of responsibility-transfer requests to Greece and Italy. Greece was the leading destination for German outgoing Dublin requests in 2025, followed by Italy, according to the Asylum Information Database.
The dispute has now become particularly visible in Italy, where Rome has resisted efforts to accept migrants transferred from Germany, especially in cases linked to arrivals and procedures that predate the new migration pact.
German officials, however, have indicated that they expect transfers to resume under the new system, putting the broader question of responsibility-sharing within the EU back at the center of the migration debate.
What the new EU rules could mean for Greece
The European Commission has indicated that Greece is strengthening the administrative structures needed to process incoming responsibility transfers under the new Asylum and Migration Management Regulation.
In its latest assessment of Greece’s preparations for the implementation of the EU migration pact, the Commission said the country’s National Dublin Unit had been reinforced and was preparing to handle incoming transfer procedures. The Commission has also indicated that transfers to Greece should, in principle, operate under the same procedures applied to other EU member states.
That does not mean Germany has announced a large-scale operation to return migrants to Greece.
No reliable figure has yet emerged for the number of people Berlin may seek to transfer specifically to Greece, nor is there a confirmed timetable for any new transfers.
But Germany’s tougher approach, combined with the implementation of the EU’s new migration rules, suggests that the issue is no longer limited to clearing old Dublin cases.
Instead, Greece now faces a new question: how many asylum seekers could be transferred back under Europe’s redesigned migration system, and whether the new pact will finally produce a more balanced distribution of responsibility among EU member states.
Related: Mitsotakis Urges EU to Adopt New Measures Against “Weaponized” Migration
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
