Berlin demands migrants' return from Italy, Meloni: "There is no going back"

Germany has asked Italy to take back with immediate effect migrants who landed on Italian shores and subsequently arrived on German territory. The request comes just days after Spain’s ultimatum on the suspension of Schengen linked to the Ceuta migration crisis, at a time when the system managing flows within the European area appears under pressure on several fronts simultaneously. This news currently comes from a single source (Il Messaggero); no independent confirmation is available.

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni set the line of outright refusal over the weekend, summed up in a brief and direct statement.

There is no going back — Giorgia Meloni, President of the Italian Council of Ministers

The Italian response fits into a picture in which Rome finds itself managing two separate disputes over migrant management at the same time: the one with Spain, linked to the Schengen suspension, and now the one with Germany, over the readmission request. In both cases the Italian government has chosen the same stance of resistance to its European partners’ demands.

On the Spanish front, the crisis carries a growing domestic political cost for premier Pedro Sánchez, who was confronted during a holiday in Lanzarote over his handling of the Ceuta migration crisis. The confrontation comes at a paradoxical moment for Sánchez: the Spanish economy recorded in 2025 the best performance among the major eurozone countries, but this result has not translated into stronger political support, a sign that the migration crisis weighs more heavily on Spanish public opinion than macroeconomic figures.

In an attempt to ease tensions between Rome and Madrid, EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner has launched a mediation process on the Schengen dispute between the two countries. It is not clear, from the available information, what stage this mediation has reached or whether it has already produced a concrete proposal submitted to the two governments.

The overall picture that emerges is one of a Schengen system subjected simultaneously to three distinct pressures — the Italian suspension, the Spanish controls and now the German readmission request — with none of the parties involved having so far shown signs of yielding on their positions.