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Athens: Germany agrees to deletion of asylum cases

by AI | 10.Dec 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Can asylum seekers go irregularly from Greece to Germany without having to fear consequences? According to the government in Athens, there is an interesting agreement with the German federal government on this.

Archive photo. People are trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. Photo: Antonio Sempere/EUROPA PRESS/dpa

Athens (dpa) – According to its own statements, Greece has achieved in negotiations with Germany and other EU countries that it will not have to take back any asylum seekers until the European asylum reform comes into force. If someone travels illegally to Greece and on to Germany by June 12, 2026, the person will not be returned to Greece, according to the Greek Ministry of Migration. 

515,000 of these so-called Dublin cases – more than 100,000 of them from the last four years – would therefore also not be transferred retroactively from Germany to Greece. However, there is a six-month deadline for Dublin transfers – starting from the day of the accepting country’s approval. A large proportion of the asylum seekers cited by Greece has therefore in any case now passed into Germany’s responsibility and can no longer be transferred to Greece. 

Dobrindt also spoke of an agreement with Greece

The German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt had spoken after the meeting in Brussels yesterday of an agreement with Greece and also Italy, but did not directly address the concessions now mentioned by the Greek side. He told the newspaper «Bild»: «We have agreed with Greece and Italy that they will once again take back migrants who entered the European Union via their countries.» He was obviously referring to the European asylum reform that will apply from June 2026. The Greek side stated that Greece is entering the new regulation «with zero readmission obligations».

The Dublin procedure is a component of the common European asylum system. One of the provisions states that, as a rule, the country responsible for processing the asylum procedure is the one in which the refugee first set foot on EU soil. If the refugees travel on to other EU countries and only apply for asylum there – which often happens in Germany – the country of first entry, such as Greece, must take the people back under certain conditions. 

This system often failed due to the prescribed deadline and the lack of willingness of some EU countries to take back asylum seekers. This is also why the member states agreed on a reform of the European asylum system. (December 9)