Eurodac

Brussels – Interior Minister Aleš Hojs expressed the hope that progress could still be made by the end of 2021 on changes to the European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database (EURODAC), a part of the new Migration Pact. He noted that there would not be a major breakthrough regarding the pact during the Slovenian EU presidency and it had not been expected either.

The German government Friday heralded a deal with Athens for the return of migrants who applied for asylum in Greece and then turned up at Germany's border with Austria. It is expected to lead to the imminent return of some 2,000 migrants to Greece.

The German government says Greece has agreed to take back migrants who apply for asylum there and later turn up at Germany's border with Austria.

The return agreement will extend to asylum seekers registered in Greece by the Eurodac system - the EU's fingerprint database - the spokesperson for the German Ministry of the Interior announced.

A delegation from the German Interior Ministry will start discussions with officials in Athens on Tuesday about Berlin's proposals to return 3,300 migrants and refugees that were registered in the Eurodac fingerprint database in Greece but still managed to make their way to Germany.

The European Commission has started legal action against Greece, Italy and Croatia for failing to correctly register migrants. Greece has been criticized for failure to fingerprint around 121,000 of the almost 500,000 people who arrived in the country between July 20 and November 30, 2015, according to EC estimates.