According to its press release, the First Senate issued a ruling on 16 April 2025 (BVerwG 1 C 18.24) on the internal migration of Greek refugees to Germany who are leaving Greece despite having been granted refugee status due to poor living conditions. The First Senate found that single, employable and non-vulnerable persons entitled to international protection are not currently at risk of degrading or inhuman living conditions upon return to Greece that would result in a violation of their rights under Article 4 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Asylum applications from this group of persons in Germany can therefore be rejected as inadmissible under Section 29(1)(2) of the Asylum Act (AsylG) in accordance with EU law. The decision clarifies the situation in Greece, which is the destination country and has been the subject of controversy in the higher courts with regard to deportation.
The plaintiffs, a 34-year-old man born in northern Gaza (BVerwG 1 C 18.24) and a 32-year-old Somali national (BVerwG 1 C 19.24), were recognised as refugees in Greece. They left Greece and entered the Federal Republic of Germany. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees rejected the further asylum applications filed here as inadmissible and threatened the plaintiffs with deportation to Greece. The appeals lodged against this decision were unsuccessful in the lower courts. The Administrative Court dismissed the plaintiffs' appeals on the grounds that, based on the high threshold of relevance required by case law, there was no significant likelihood that they would face inhuman or degrading treatment (Art. 4 GRCh) if they were returned to Greece.
The appeals allowed by the Hessian Administrative Court as so-called factual revisions pursuant to Section 78(8) of the Asylum Act (AsylG) due to a deviation from the assessment of the general situation in Greece relevant to deportation by other higher administrative courts were unsuccessful. The general assessment of the situation by the Administrative Court also proves to be essentially correct for the Federal Administrative Court on the basis of the current state of knowledge. According to this, it is not to be expected with considerable probability that young male beneficiaries of protection who are able to work, healthy and single and who return to Greece will find themselves in extreme material hardship there that would prevent them from satisfying their most basic needs in terms of accommodation, food and hygiene. Admittedly, due to bureaucratic hurdles and waiting times for the necessary documents, many persons entitled to protection do not have access to state support immediately upon arrival, in particular from the current bridging programme, the Helios+ integration programme or the state basic income. However, they can probably find at least temporary accommodation or emergency shelters with basic sanitary facilities, which are operated at the municipal level and by non-governmental aid organisations, among others. They can cover their other basic needs, including food, through their own income, initially at least in the so-called shadow economy, supplemented if necessary by support services from the aforementioned agencies. Emergency medical care and first aid are guaranteed.
