On 17 August 2018, the Federal Minister of the Interior, Building and Community, Horst Seehofer, and his Greek counterpart reached an agreement which covers cooperation regarding refusal of entry at the border and family reunification in cases under the Dublin-III-Regulation.

In cases where internal border checks at the German-Austrian border produce a hit in the European fingerprint database EURODAC revealing that an asylum applicant has already filed an asylum application in Greece, it will be possible under this agreement for Germany to return the persons concerned directly to Greece within 48 hours. This does not apply to unaccompanied minors.

In line with what was agreed in the margins of the European Council meeting and in compliance with existing legal obligations, Germany is, in return, prepared to speed up processing the backlog of family reunification cases by the end of 2018. In addition, Germany is prepared to review contentious family reunification cases. Both sides confirm their resolve to continue working towards common European solutions and ensure one another of their mutual solidarity and support in case of future migration crises.

The Federal Minister of the Interior, Building and Community, Horst Seehofer, said: "The signing of this administrative agreement with Greece is another important step that will help establish orderly conditions in European migration policy. With this agreement, Germany and Greece set a clear signal for the enforcement of existing law which does not give individuals the freedom to choose the EU member state which is to process their asylum application."

Greece is the second partner country after Spain with which Germany has concluded an agreement on the refusal of entry at the border.