Sweden plans to send migrants to Italy, France and Spain reject Dublin transfers

Sweden Joins Wave of Nations Seeking to Return Asylum Seekers to Italy Under New EU Pact

Usagevpn.com – Stockholm has formally confirmed its intention to send asylum seekers back to Italy under the Dublin framework, adding its name to a growing list of European states that have either announced or already executed such transfers. The announcement, relayed through Italian news agency ANSA, follows similar declarations from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Finland. Sweden stated it plans to “apply the rules as set out” in the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration, which took effect on 12 June, and expects “all member states to fulfil their obligations,” explicitly naming Italy among them.

The move places Italy at the centre of a contentious debate over how the continent’s asylum architecture should operate in practice. Under both the older Dublin Regulation and the newer Pact, a person who first sets foot in Europe to seek protection must, in principle, file their claim in that initial country of entry. For Italy, which sits at the Mediterranean’s front door, this rule has generated an enormous administrative burden.

The Scale of Transfers Directed at Rome

Eurostat figures spanning 2023 through 2025 show that Italy received a cumulative total of 109,427 transfer requests from other member states. In 2025 alone, the number exceeded 24,000, making Rome by far the most frequent destination for Dublin transferees across the bloc. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi signed an agreement with the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Council at the close of 2025 that effectively cancels roughly 14,000 of those 2025 requests, the bulk of which originated in Germany and France.

That leaves approximately 10,000 cases still pending. The principal sending countries behind those outstanding requests are precisely the states now vocalising their intent to enforce the rules: Switzerland accounts for 3,612, Belgium for 1,531, Austria for 644, Finland for 520, with several hundred more scattered across other nations, including Sweden. Austria has already told LaPresse that since the Pact entered into force, it has physically returned four Dublin transferees to Italian territory.

Italy’s Unilateral Freeze and the Commission’s Findings

Italy stopped accepting transfers on its own initiative at the end of 2022. A 2024 judicial ruling held that Rome could not, in substance, sidestep its Dublin obligations, reasoning that every EU member state is presumed capable of guaranteeing dignified reception conditions for asylum seekers. Yet the European Commission’s initial assessment of the new Pact found that Italy continued to refuse incoming transfers. Between 12 June and 7 July, the Commission recorded 12 rejections.

“A receiving member state cannot refuse a transfer and (…) must propose an alternative date for the transfer.”

That language appears in the Pact’s text itself, leaving little room for a blanket refusal. The practical question now is whether Italy’s reception infrastructure can absorb a renewed flow of arrivals within the compressed timelines the new rules impose.

France and Spain Hold a Different Course

Not every Mediterranean gateway state is following the Nordic and Central European line. France, another principal entry point for migrants arriving by sea, has decided for now “not to join the countries” that are returning asylum seekers to Italy. Well-informed sources in Paris told ANSA that this position will hold at least “for as long as this phase of cooperation and rapprochement” with Rome continues. Spain, likewise a major first-entry country, has distanced itself from the practice of sending migrants back to their initial point of arrival.

The Spanish dimension is further complicated by the temporary suspension of Schengen border controls introduced during the migration crisis at Ceuta. That suspension remains in force until 31 August, and the question of its extension or termination has yet to be resolved bilaterally with Madrid.

What the New Timelines Mean in Practice

Under the pre-Pact Dublin Regulation, once twelve months elapsed without a completed transfer, the asylum seeker was released from the obligation to apply in the first country of entry and could lodge a claim wherever they were physically present. The new Pact stretches that window to twenty months, meaning the receiving state retains responsibility for a considerably longer period.

Equally significant, the Pact obliges member states to deliver a decision on the vast majority of asylum applications within twelve weeks of filing. Less than three months have elapsed since the Pact’s entry into force, and Piantedosi told the Schengen Committee last week that it is premature to draw any comprehensive balance sheet. Still, the question is already pressing: can a country like Italy process and, where appropriate, repatriate migrants from safe countries within a three-month window?

A first partial answer will emerge from the European Commission’s next monitoring exercise, scheduled for mid-October. Until then, the political temperature around Dublin transfers is unlikely to cool, particularly given Prime Minister Meloni’s public posture on irregular migration, which critics argue sits at odds with the solidarity the new Pact demands of all member states. The coming weeks will test whether the architecture of shared responsibility can survive the friction between those who wish to enforce it and those who view it as an unfair burden concentrated on a handful of Mediterranean gateways.