Sweden plans to start returning migrants who first entered the EU via Italy back to Rome under the bloc's Dublin transfer rules, according to Euronews. That puts Stockholm alongside Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Finland, which have resumed Dublin returns to Italy.

EU states sent Italy 109,427 Dublin transfer requests between 2023 and 2025, according to Eurostat data cited by Euronews — the same period in which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has framed her migration policy as a "turning point" for the country.

But the same regulation that obliges Sweden to return migrants to their EU point of entry also obliges Italy, as that entry point, to take them back — and Rome is refusing many of these transfers. France and Spain are separately declining Dublin transfers requested of them, according to Euronews and a report on the dispute over "Dublin cases" carried by bluewin.ch.

How Dublin is supposed to work

The Dublin III Regulation (EU No. 604/2013) assigns asylum responsibility to the first EU state a person entered irregularly or otherwise resides in, not the state where a claim is eventually filed. A receiving state files a "take back" or "take charge" request; once accepted, or left unanswered past the deadline, the transfer must occur within six months.

The Commission's only enforcement tool is an infringement procedure under Article 258 TFEU, opened in its role as "guardian of the Treaties." It is rarely used for Dublin non-compliance: the process can take years and typically ends at the Court of Justice of the EU, not in an actual transfer.

What to watch: whether the Commission opens infringement proceedings against Italy, France or Spain over Dublin non-compliance, and whether Sweden's requested transfers to Rome are actually carried out or simply add to a backlog neither side enforces.