Migrants: EU court lawyer, states can make decrees on safe countries

"A Member State may designate safe countries of origin by a legislative act and must disclose, for purposes of judicial review, the sources of information on which the designation is based."

The Member State 'may, under certain conditions, grant a third country safe country of origin status while identifying limited categories of persons who may be exposed to the risk of persecution or serious violations'.

This was written by the Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice Richard de la Tour in his opinion on the cases related to the Italy-Albania protocol and the definition of safe country of origin. The judgement is expected between the end of May and the beginning of June.

National courts called upon to examine an appeal against the rejection of an application for international protection must have access to the "sources of information" on which the decision to consider a third country as safe is based. According to the Advocate General, the mere fact that "a third country is designated as a safe country of origin" by decree "cannot have the consequence of removing it from a review of its legality".