Switzerland’s efforts to restart the transfer of asylum seekers back to Italy under the EU Dublin Regulation have stalled only weeks after Bern announced the policy would resume. Justice Minister Beat Jans told reporters on Friday that, despite diplomatic assurances, “Italy has not taken back a single person since we relaunched returns at the end of August.” The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) confirmed that daily transfer slots remain unused, calling the situation “unsatisfactory.” Under the Dublin system, the country where an asylum seeker first sets foot in the Schengen area is responsible for processing the claim. When Italy unilaterally suspended readmissions in December 2022, thousands of cases piled up in Switzerland and other northern states. Bern had hoped that Rome’s new engagement with the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum—adopted in June 2026—would reopen the door, but practical cooperation has yet to follow rhetoric. Swiss authorities now face a policy dilemma. Keeping people whose claims should be handled elsewhere strains federal reception centres and cantonal budgets; the SEM estimates that each blocked transfer costs roughly CHF 40,000 per year in accommodation, schooling and welfare. Yet forcing the issue could poison relations with a key neighbour at a moment when Switzerland is already under domestic pressure to tighten asylum rules and safeguard its Schengen membership. Corporate mobility managers are watching closely. Any prolonged breakdown in Dublin cooperation tends to trigger ad-hoc border checks and longer queues at key crossings such as Chiasso and Brig, disrupting commuter flows and truck traffic between Switzerland and Italy. Multinationals have been advised to factor potential delays into supply-chain planning and to alert internationally mobile staff that spot-checks may increase through the autumn. In the short term, Bern says dialogue with Rome will continue “step by step,” but analysts note that effective returns may depend on the EU’s forthcoming interim report on the migration pact, due in October. Should the impasse persist, Switzerland could seek compensation payments from Brussels—an option already floated in parliamentary committee hearings—as it tries to balance humanitarian obligations, domestic politics and the practical realities of Schengen cooperation.
Source: SWI swissinfo.ch
