(CN) - Italy's far-right government can be sued for refusing to process some asylum claims shortly after it got into power in 2022, the European Union's high court ruled Thursday.

The European Court of Justice faulted Italy for "unilaterally" declaring in late 2022 it would stop abiding by an EU agreement to process asylum-seekers in the first EU country they land in. The agreement is known as the Dublin regulation but Italy said it would no longer assess the claims of applicants who'd left the country.

In its ruling, the court said an EU state "cannot discharge itself, by a mere unilateral announcement, of its responsibilities" under the Dublin rules.

"Such a possibility would risk jeopardizing the proper functioning" of the Dublin system, the court said.

After taking office, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government declared it would stop taking back asylum-seekers who'd left Italy for other EU countries before they'd been processed in Italy.

Many migrants who get to the EU first set foot in border countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Spain and Italy and then quickly head north to find work and join friends and family before their asylum claims have been evaluated.

Thursday's ruling came in the case of an unidentified Syrian national who ended up in Germany in April 2023 after first reaching the EU in Italy. Details about the Syrian were omitted from court documents.

Germany challenged Italy's refusal to handle the Syrian's claim and eventually turned to the Court of Justice.

The high court reprimanded Italy for "unilaterally" suspending the Dublin regulation. But it said Germany was nonetheless obligated to handle the person's request for asylum despite Italy's refusal.

Even when another EU state rejects processing cases, the court said an asylum-seeker's claims must be assessed.

However, the court said Germany and the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, could sue Italy for its action.

The commission and the German government did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

"The ruling is quite significant because it settles the question of what happens if a member state refuses to take transfers of asylum-seekers who are its responsibility under the Dublin system," said Steve Peers, an expert on human rights and asylum law at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Italy and other countries on EU's borders have long argued the Dublin regulation is unfair because they are the main points of entry for migrants, which leaves them overwhelmed with asylum-seekers.

In 2022, Meloni claimed Italy had to stop processing asylum claims from people who'd moved onto other countries because Italy was struggling to cope with the sheer number of claims.

After Meloni's rise to power, the EU overhauled its migration and asylum rules in 2024 and chose to spread out the processing of claims across the bloc. These new rules go into effect in June.

Meloni played a big role in pushing the EU to adopt these rules, which are seen as tightening the bloc's borders.

Peers said the commission and Germany could possibly sue Italy for its decision to stop processing so-called "transfer" cases, but he added that EU states may want to focus on getting the new asylum rules enforced.

"Italy was seen as the crucial state to persuade to support the pact (which it did) and so the real issue may be whether and how it applies the pact," Peers said in an email.

As a whole, the EU in recent years has toughened its stance on migrants and used an array of methods, some of them deemed illegal, to keep migrants from entering the bloc.

"The EU is attempting to dissuade them from coming, to prevent them moving between member states and to remove them to non-EU countries as much and as quickly as possible," Peers said.

Meloni, like other populist far-right leaders in Europe, has built her political career on attacking migrants and calling for stricter immigration rules.

Her government has tried to stop migrant vessels before they reach Italian waters and send migrants to processing centers in Albania. But Italian judges have blocked her government from carrying out that scheme.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Source: Courthouse News Service