Vast majority of Germany's migrant transfer requests failed in 2023

Only a tiny percentage of attempts by the German government to send asylum seekers back to other European Union countries succeeded, according to government figures, reported dpa.

Germany submitted 74,622 requests in 2023 for other EU countries to accept migrants based on the so-called Dublin rules, which require asylum claims to be processed in the first EU country in which a migrant is registered.

But only 5,053 people were actually sent to other countries, according to the German government. The information was obtained by the opposition conservative CDU/CSU bloc in response to a parliamentary request.

Transfer requests failed in 38,682 cases for various reasons, including refusals by other EU countries to accept the transfers or because of individual decisions by German courts blocking such transfers.

In 222 cases, the individual asylum seekers successfully resisted attempts to send them to another EU country.

The EU's Dublin Regulation stipulates that another EU country is responsible for an asylum seeker if they have applied for protection there or entered the country first.

But deportations to other EU countries under the Dublin rules must take place within six months of arrival in Germany, or else the asylum case becomes the responsibility of the German government.

Germany only transferred 11 asylum seekers to Italy in the entire year, out of a total of 15,479 transfer requests. The most Dublin transfers were made to Austria, which took 1,534.

An Interior Ministry spokesman told dpa on Saturday that Germany is trying to work with the European Commission and other EU countries to improve the implementation of the Dublin procedure.