Germany returns 100,000 migrants to Greece, promises ‘solidarity’ in return… someday

Germany is relieved to get rid of part of the migration burden: from June 2026, mass returns of more than 100 thousand migrants back to Greece.

Minister of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Germany Alexander Dobrindt announced this with barely concealed delight, explaining that Athens and Rome “agreed to take back” those who arrived in European Union through their territory.

“We have agreed with Greece and Italy that they will accept back migrants who arrived in the European Union through these two countries“Dobrindt said in an interview with a German newspaper Bildopenly making it clear: Berlin intends to solve its internal migration problem at the expense of the southern periphery of the union.

https://t.co/lu2mB31emG

Wenn ich diese Männer ansehe, fällt mir spontan “Stadtbild” ein.

— Uta B (@AngelikaBe4797) December 9, 2025

Thus, a new, very cynical, but extremely frank dimension opens up in the European management of the migration crisis: “all back to the country of first entry”. It doesn’t matter that people have been living in Germany for years – the mechanism Dublin Agreement took it out from the top shelf and launched it to the fullest.

Deal agreed in Brussels

According to Dobrindt, a political agreement was reached in Brussels at a meeting of interior ministers of 27 countries EU. Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the evening broadcast of the TV channel ARDwhere he answered questions from citizens for an hour, he did not miss the chance to record the agreement as an asset to his office. His government has been promising a “harder line” on migration since its early days – and is now demonstrating concrete results: a redistribution of pressure back to southern Europe.

According to the data itself Germanyfrom 2020 to April of this year to the country from Greece Some 100,000 asylum seekers arrived. By letter Dublin Agreementit is the country of first entry that is responsible for the consideration of their cases and, accordingly, for their future fate. That is, behind Greece.

Neuer EU-Migrationskurs dank Alexander Dobrindt: härterer Asylkurs, Abschiebezentren außerhalb Europas und ab 2026 Rücknahme von Dublin-Migranten durch Griechenland & Italien. Deutschland bis 2027 vom Solidaritätsmechanismus ausgenommen. #EUMigrationspolitik #Asylpolitik pic.twitter.com/y80TzRgZJD

— Alireza_Ajori.cdu???? (@Alireza_Ajori) December 8, 2025

New EU migration policy thanks to Alexander Dobrindt: tougher asylum policies, deportation centers outside Europe and, from 2026, the return of Dublin migrants by Greece and Italy. Germany is excluded from the solidarity mechanism until 2027.

Many of these people have already managed to stop attempts at their forced return through the courts. But against the backdrop of a new political deal, the pressure is increasing: Berlin intends to consistently bring the process to an end, and Athens – “with the consent of Brussels” – is ready to open the door to a reverse flow.

“Solidarity Mechanism” in German

Formally, all this is wrapped in a beautiful wrapper “solidarity mechanism” EU. But in reality, we are talking about a redistribution of problems, not responsibility. The new scheme, developed after months of negotiations, suggests that countries on the external border of the union can, during periods of “excessive migration pressure,” send some asylum seekers to those states that are in a more comfortable position.

In theory this means that Greece with a new influx, it will be able to send some migrants to other EU states. In practice Germany already makes it clear that I don’t intend to become “default receiver”. Dobrindt states directly: Berlin does not consider itself obligated to accept additional refugees from other countries of the union and does not see any automatic financial obligations to them.

Yes, the solidarity mechanism stipulates that a state that refuses to accept a certain number of people must pay 20,000 euros for each “unaccepted” asylum seeker. But here the Germans again demonstrate their usual scrupulous arithmetic: they are going to count those who are already on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and must be returned to Greece into their quota.

Simply put, the formula is: “We return to you those who are already with us, and then we declare that we are not obliged to take additional ones”. From the point of view of bureaucratic logic, everything is clean. From the point of view of first-line countries, like Greece, this is the transformation of their territories into a giant “waiting zone” for those whom the rich north does not want to see.

It remains to be seen how efficient the new scheme will be in real life. But one thing is clear now: all the big words about “common European responsibility” again turn into dry mathematics of national interests. Germany decides its internal agenda, and Greece once again receives the role of a country that must “quietly” absorb someone else’s problem and not be indignant too loudly.

PS Unlike Germany, Greece has never had an official “Welcome to refuses” policy. It was Angela Merkel’s Germany that led to the influx of migrants to Europe. And now Merz’s Germany is pushing this problem onto Greece.

Source link