diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/services/UrlsServiceImpl.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/services/UrlsServiceImpl.java
index 1631841..fa6ea6a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/services/UrlsServiceImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/services/UrlsServiceImpl.java
@@ -401,10 +401,20 @@ public class UrlsServiceImpl implements UrlsService {
             }
         }
 
+        // Delete the assignments each time, as they are bound to the "current" assignmentsCounter. Otherwise, they will never be deleted!
+        DatabaseConnector.databaseLock.lock();
+        String deleteErrorMsg = deleteAssignmentsBatch(curReportAssignmentsCounter);
+        if ( deleteErrorMsg != null ) {
+            DatabaseConnector.databaseLock.unlock();
+            postReportResultToWorker(curWorkerId, curReportAssignmentsCounter, deleteErrorMsg);
+            return false;
+        }
+        DatabaseConnector.databaseLock.unlock();
+
         // For every "numOfWorkers" assignment-batches that go to workers, we merge the tables, once a workerReport comes in.
         // After the first few increases of "assignmentsBatchCounter" until all workers get assignment-batches,
         // there will always be a time when the counter will be just before the "golden-value" and then one workerReport has to be processed here and the counter will be incremented by one and signal the merging-time.
-        if ( (currentNumOfWorkerReportsProcessed % UrlsController.numOfWorkers.get()) == 0 )
+        if ( (currentNumOfWorkerReportsProcessed % UrlsController.numOfWorkers.get()) == 0 )    // The workersNum should not be zero! If a "division by zero" exception is thrown below, then there's a big bug somewhere in the design.
             if ( ! mergeWorkerRelatedTables(curWorkerId, curReportAssignmentsCounter, hasAttemptParquetFileProblem, hasPayloadParquetFileProblem) )
                 return false;
 
@@ -487,13 +497,6 @@ public class UrlsServiceImpl implements UrlsService {
             }
         }
 
-        mergeErrorMsg = deleteAssignmentsBatch(curReportAssignmentsCounter);
-        if ( mergeErrorMsg != null ) {
-            DatabaseConnector.databaseLock.unlock();
-            postReportResultToWorker(curWorkerId, curReportAssignmentsCounter, mergeErrorMsg);
-            return false;
-        }
-
         DatabaseConnector.databaseLock.unlock();
         logger.debug("Finished merging the database tables.");
         return true;