by Aggelos Skordas
Greece continues to refuse taking back refugees from Germany, although Athens is to be held responsible for them under European asylum rules, German media indicated on Thursday. Specifically, according to the local Bavarian newspaper Passauer Neue Presse (PNP), the German government has submitted the return of 2,312 refugees to Greece in 2017, with the later acknowledging only 81 of the above cases falling within its responsibility, but not a single refugee has been returned yet.
This is the response the German Federal Ministry of the Interior gave to a left-wing group and was later published by PNP. Moreover, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), under the so-called Dublin Regulation, Athens is to be held responsible for no less than 2,735 refugees and migrants currently living in Germany.
In addition, the Federal Ministry of the Interior deplores the high rejection rate by the Greek authorities which currently stands at 95.5 percent. Why the country did not receive a Dublin refugee from Germany, although it declared itself responsible in 81 cases, the ministry leaves open in response to the request. In contrast, it continues, in 2017 the German Federal Government received from Greece 3,189 refugees who have relatives living in Germany. These are mainly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis. In total, Athens applied the transfer of 5,807 refugees’ relatives to Germany, the BAMF declared, with the German authorities approving 90 percent of the cases. Currently some 3,100 relatives are still waiting to be relocated from Greece to Germany.
Greece, however, is not the only country that does not accept taking back refugees from Germany. Since May 2017, Berlin has requested the return of 3,304 refugees and migrants to Hungary, but Budapest has not received one. In total, the number of refugees welcomed by Germany in the context of family reunification is higher than the number of people dispatched to the so called countries of first reception, such as Italy and Greece, under the Dublin Regulation. In 2017 Berlin returned 7,102 people while at the same time received 8,754 new refugees and immigrants.
It should be noted that under the European relocation agreement (as of 24 January 2018) Germany has received a total of 10,273 asylum seekers (5,371 from Greece and 4,902 from Italy) becoming the bloc’s country that has resettled the most people by far, while France comes second with a sum of 4,886 relocations (4,400 from Greece and 486 from Italy) followed by Sweden (1,656 from Greece and 1,390 from Italy) and the Netherlands (1,754 from Greece and 891 from Italy). On the contrary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria have taken in only 12, 16 and 29 asylum seekers respectively. In total, 21,717 migrants and refugees have been relocated from Greece to other European countries and 11,742 from Italy.
