Migrants, EU Council approves proposal on safe third countries

The EU Council approved the proposal amending EU regulation 2024/1348 regarding the application of the concept of 'safe third country'. Spain, Greece, France and Portugal declared themselves against. However, a qualified majority was achieved. At the same time, the Council also approved the regulation establishing an EU-wide list of safe countries of origin. The government now hopes to unblock the centres in Albania and the legal dispute over safe countries.

The safe third country concept allows EU Member States to reject a asylum application as inadmissible (i.e. without examining its merits) when asylum seekers could have applied for and, if eligible, been granted international protection in a third country considered safe for them.

According to the updated rules agreed by the Council, Member States will be able to apply the concept of safe third country on the basis of the following three options a link between the asylum seeker and the third country (however, the link will no longer be a mandatory criterion for the application of the safe third country concept); the applicant has transited through the third country before reaching the EU; there is an agreement or arrangement with a safe third country that ensures that a person's asylum application will be examined in that third country (but the application of the safe third country concept on the basis of an agreement or arrangement is not possible in the case of unaccompanied minors).

Instead, the safe country of origin concept allows Member States to set up a special system for examining applications for international protection. Under the 2024 Asylum Procedure Regulation, adopted under the Asylum and Migration Pact, Member States must apply an accelerated procedure for applicants from a safe country of origin and may implement it at the border or in transit zones. The rules for safe countries of origin are based on the assumption that applicants from such countries are presumed to be sufficiently protected from the risk of persecution or serious violations of their fundamental rights. Third countries can only be designated as safe countries of origin if they fulfil a high level of security.

The Council agreed that the following countries should be designated as safe countries of origin at EU level: Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia. The EU candidate countries are also designated as safe countries of origin at EU level, unless there is a situation of international or internal armed conflict in the country, restrictive measures affecting fundamental rights and freedoms have been taken or the percentage of positive decisions by Member States' authorities against applicants from the country is above 20%. The two agreements reached today allow the Council to start negotiations with the European Parliament to agree on a final legal text.