diff --git a/CHANGELOG.adoc b/CHANGELOG.adoc
index d3997294e0..ad9f31b61e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.adoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.adoc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ This file documents all notable changes to https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy[IDE
 
 Release with new features and bugfixes:
 
+* https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/1165[#1165]: Fix automatic project import for Eclipse
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/2040[#2040]: Fixed buggy workspace selection in the GUI
 
 The full list of changes for this release can be found in https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/milestone/49?closed=1[milestone 2026.08.002].
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/Eclipse.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/Eclipse.java
index 6b5ffdf5c1..ce36ef0d8b 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/Eclipse.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/Eclipse.java
@@ -145,9 +145,11 @@ public void importRepository(Path repositoryPath) {
       maven.getOrDownloadArtifact(groovyAnt);
       this.groovyInstalled = true;
     }
-    // -DdevonImportPath=\"${import_path}\" -DdevonImportWorkingSet=\"${importWorkingSets}\""
-    runTool(ProcessMode.DEFAULT, null, ProcessErrorHandling.THROW_CLI, List.of(VMARGS,
-        "-DrepositoryImportPath=\"" + repositoryPath + "\" -DrepositoryImportWorkingSet=\"" + "" + "\"", "-application", "org.eclipse.ant.core.antRunner",
-        "-buildfile", this.context.getIdeInstallationPath().resolve(IdeContext.FOLDER_INTERNAL).resolve("eclipse-import.xml").toString()));
+    Path buildFile = this.context.getIdeInstallationPath().resolve(IdeContext.FOLDER_INTERNAL).resolve("eclipse-import.xml");
+    // "-application" and "-buildfile" must come before "-vmargs" (added by super.configureToolArgs if ECLIPSE_VMARGS is set),
+    // as "-vmargs" and everything after it is passed to the JVM instead of being processed by eclipse itself.
+    runTool(ProcessMode.DEFAULT, null, ProcessErrorHandling.THROW_CLI,
+        List.of("-application", "org.eclipse.ant.core.antRunner", "-buildfile", buildFile.toString(), "-DrepositoryImportPath=" + repositoryPath,
+            "-DrepositoryImportWorkingSet="));
   }
 }
diff --git a/cli/src/main/package/internal/eclipse-import.groovy b/cli/src/main/package/internal/eclipse-import.groovy
index b6b2a71372..ab5972619f 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/package/internal/eclipse-import.groovy
+++ b/cli/src/main/package/internal/eclipse-import.groovy
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class MyWorkbenchAdvisor extends org.eclipse.ui.application.WorkbenchAdvisor {
   public void preStartup() {
     try {
       // Get path from ant properties
-      String path = antProperties.get("devonImportPath");
+      String path = antProperties.get("repositoryImportPath");
       if (path == null || path.equals("")) {
         throw new IllegalStateException("Parameter repositoryImportPath must be set.");
       }
diff --git a/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/EclipseTest.java b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/EclipseTest.java
index b742c43b7e..b79f0b239e 100644
--- a/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/EclipseTest.java
+++ b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/eclipse/EclipseTest.java
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 package com.devonfw.tools.ide.tool.eclipse;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
 
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.AbstractIdeContextTest;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeContext;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeTestContext;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.log.IdeLogEntry;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.log.IdeLogLevel;
@@ -56,4 +60,35 @@ void testEclipse(String os) throws IOException {
     assertThat(context).logAtDebug().hasMessageContaining("Version 2024-09 of tool eclipse is already installed");
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests that {@link Eclipse#importRepository(Path)} invokes eclipse headlessly with the ant runner application and does not misplace "-application" behind
+   * "-vmargs" (see https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/1165).
+   */
+  @Test
+  void testImportRepository() throws Exception {
+
+    // arrange
+    IdeTestContext context = newContext(PROJECT_ECLIPSE, "eclipseproject");
+    context.setSystemInfo(SystemInfoMock.of("linux"));
+    context.getStartContext().setForceMode(true); // #663
+    Eclipse eclipse = context.getCommandletManager().getCommandlet(Eclipse.class);
+    eclipse.install();
+    // avoid downloading groovy-ant via maven in this test as it is not the concern of this test
+    Field groovyInstalledField = Eclipse.class.getDeclaredField("groovyInstalled");
+    groovyInstalledField.setAccessible(true);
+    groovyInstalledField.set(eclipse, true);
+    Path repositoryPath = context.getWorkspacePath().resolve("my-repo");
+
+    // act
+    eclipse.importRepository(repositoryPath);
+
+    // assert
+    Path buildFile = context.getIdeInstallationPath().resolve(IdeContext.FOLDER_INTERNAL).resolve("eclipse-import.xml");
+    assertThat(eclipse.getToolBinPath().resolve("eclipsetest")).hasContent(
+        "eclipse linux -data " + context.getWorkspacePath() + " -keyring " + context.getUserHome().resolve(".eclipse").resolve(".keyring")
+            + " -configuration " + context.getPluginsPath().resolve("eclipse").resolve("configuration")
+            + " -consoleLog -nosplash -application org.eclipse.ant.core.antRunner -buildfile " + buildFile + " -DrepositoryImportPath=" + repositoryPath
+            + " -DrepositoryImportWorkingSet=");
+  }
+
 }