Greece agrees to return of asylum seekers, German gov't says

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.

"We have reached an agreement with Greece. The interior ministries have reached an agreement and we are on the verge of completion. Only the formal exchange of letters is pending. We are in agreement," said Eleonore Petermann.

The readmission window extended to 48 hours, she said. Further details would be made public after the deal was signed.

Petermann added that she expected an agreement would also be reached with Italy.

Last week, Madrid signed a deal with Berlin to take back asylum seekers who arrive in Germany but were already registered in Spain.