According to what Il Corriere della Sera reports, Bern has also announced that it will apply the new EU pact on migration. Although it does not belong to the European Union, it adheres to the Schengen agreement on free movement.
After Germany, Switzerland has also announced that it will send back to Italy asylum seekers who have moved on its territory after landing on the Italian coast. Bern therefore aligns itself with the new pact on migrants, despite not being part of the EU but as it adheres to the Schengen agreement on free movement.
The announcement
As Il Corriere della Sera explains, Magdalena Baker, Swiss spokesperson for the Secretariat of State for Migration, announced the gradual resumption of repatriations, adding that flights have already been scheduled from Switzerland starting from the end of August. At the moment no agreement has been reached with Italy for the management of repatriations. And it remains to be seen how Rome will respond.
What's happening
Starting from the end of 2022, the Meloni government had suspended the readmission procedures for migrants from other European countries. People who, after arriving in Italy, had moved to other states and asked for hospitality there. However, the Dublin Treaty provides that the application must be examined by the applicant's country of entry into Europe. After a few years of a frozen mechanism, the topic has now returned to the forefront also in light of the new EU pact on migration, in force since 12 June. The rules establish that states under heavy migratory pressure, such as Italy, are entitled to economic compensation but must respect certain obligations such as that of examining asylum requests.
Meanwhile, news arrives that the 22-year-old Somali girl who should be expelled from Germany to Italy tomorrow will receive asylum and protection from an evangelical church in Nuremberg, Bavaria, as Stefan Reichel, the president of the "Matthew-Church and Asylum" association, reports. The young woman "will remain under our protection until Germany accepts Italy's request to definitively cancel the transfer", reads a statement released by ANSA. The association's move is in fact part of an agreement with federal bodies dating back to 24 February 2015, which establishes how churches, whether evangelical, Catholic or free, can give asylum for humanitarian reasons to people in serious difficulty. "The young Somali girl is a particularly troubled girl. She has already suffered a lot, she is very scared and runs the risk of losing contact with her family. In this case we believe that there are all the conditions to give her asylum", added Reichel. The protection of the evangelical community will formally last until the deadline for expulsion expires.
The Somali girl: "I am very happy to be safe"
"I am very happy to be safe", the Somali girl told ANSA, through the president of the evangelical association Matteo, who is dealing with her case. "Now the horrible time of escape is over", added the twenty-two year old who was hit by an expulsion order from Germany to Italy.
