The Netherlands is to return 450 asylum seekers to Germany because they should have requested refugee status there under EU rules.

Germany earlier refused to accept 900 refugees but agreement has now been reached on the transfer of 450, the Volkskrant said. The Netherlands argues that their claims should be processed in Germany because that is where their fingerprints had been registered.

This, officials say, is enough to return them to Germany under the Dublin agreement. That deal says that refugee claims should be processed in the first EU country the asylum seeker reaches.

The ruling had been made more flexible following the surge of Syrian refugees in 2015. Germany in particular said it would have been unfair on Athens to return them all to Greece.

Now numbers have gone down sharply, the Netherlands has renewed its efforts to return some people to Germany, the Volkskrant said.