|Published on: 21st August 2026|Categories: News|
- The government has introduced internal border controls with Spain following the recent events in Ceuta.
- The transfer of asylum applicants back to Italy from other European countries may be about to restart.
- An NGO has urged the European Commission to provide a decision on a number of complaints about Italy’s rules on civilian search and rescue activities three years after they were submitted.
- The Rwandan government has confirmed that it is in talks with Italy about the establishment of a reception centre for people seeking asylum in Europe.
The government has introduced internal border controls with Spain following the recent events in Ceuta. Announcing the measure on 31 July after an estimated 70,000-80,000 people crossed the Moroccan-Spanish border in North Africa, Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi wrote on social media that it was a “necessary choice to safeguard the security of our citizens and defend the European borders”. Two weeks later, he told a hearing of the Parliamentary Schengen Committee that it was “precautionary and organisational” and intended to “protect national security”, and that it would remain in place until “all risks have been ruled out”. Interviewed by Al-Jazeera on 3 August, Chiara Catelli from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants described the move as “nothing more than political theatre” and a “savvy manipulation of EU law to show that the government is ‘tough on migration’, while effectively only causing problems to tourists and other people travelling from Spain to Italy”.
The transfer of asylum applicants back to Italy from other European countries may be about to restart. On 9 August, the Repubblica newspaper reported that the German government was planning to transfer a 22-year-old Somali woman back to Italy where she had reportedly first entered the EU. The transfer, which was due to take place on 19 August, would be the first since the Italian government suspended incoming transfers under the Dublin Regulation in December 2022. The announcement appears to have created some confusion in the Italian Ministry of the Interior with a spokesperson telling the ANSA news agency: “There is no migrant to take back from Berlin under Dublin”. A spokesperson for the German Ministry of the Interior expressed surprise about the “uproar on the issue” in Italy given that the two countries “have been working well together on migration issues and the implementation of the common asylum system for some time”. Referring to a bilateral agreement that was signed in December 2025 to restart the application of the Dublin rules following the entry into application of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in June 2026, she added that “This means that expulsions under Dublin will also be carried out to Italy”. According to a report published by the European Commission (EC) on 15 July, eight EU member states submitted ‘take charge requests, take back notifications and/or standard forms for transfers’ in the first month after the entry into application of the Pact (specifically the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation which replaced the Dublin Regulation) and that ‘12 transfers have been requested and Italy has rejected them’.
An NGO has urged the EC to provide a decision on a number of complaints about Italy’s rules on civilian search and rescue (SAR) activities three years after they were submitted. In a press release issued on 30 July, the NGO Doctors Without borders (MSF) urged Italian authorities to “stop obstructing lifesaving search and rescue work” and the EC to decide on the complaints that were submitted by the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI), EMERGENCY, MSF, Oxfam Italia and SOS Humanity in 2023 regarding Decree-Law 1/2023 (commonly known as the ‘Piantedosi Decree’), the practice of assigning distant ports to rescue ships and the “abusive use” of Port State Control inspections. It also noted that Italy’s policies and practices are “not in line with EU member states’ obligations under European and international maritime and human rights laws” and that they “endanger the lives of people on the move and undermine the work of organisations trying to save lives at sea”.
The Rwandan government has confirmed that it is in talks with Italy about the establishment of a reception centre for people seeking asylum in Europe. Speaking on the Royal FM radio station on 6 August, spokesperson Yolande Makolo said that discussions were ongoing and that one idea under consideration was “the expansion of an emergency programme to host migrants evacuated from Libya”.
Related articles
