Swiss poised to take 200 more refugees from Italy

Switzerland is preparing to take a batch of 200 asylum seekers from Italy under the terms of a European Union deal to relieve the stress on southern Europe, Swiss public television SRF has revealed. Migration officials are currently reviewing the 200 cases of Syrian, Iraqi and Eritrean people who have claimed asylum in Italy. “If all checks are successfully completed then these asylum seekers may enter in September,” Lea Wertheimer, spokeswoman for the State Secretariat for Migration told SRF. Switzerland has pledged to receive a total of 900 people from Italy and 600 from Greece, Wertheimer added. So far, only 34 asylum seekers have been accepted from Italy. Under the terms of the Dublin agreement, of which Switzerland is a signatory, asylum seekers are the responsibility of the EU state in which they first applied. Other countries can send asylum seekers back to the original state in which they were registered. This policy prevents multiple asylum applications in ...