The European Union on Wednesday, April 16 published a list of seven countries that considers “safe”, in an attempt to accelerate migrants returns by making citizens of those nations claim asylum in the block. The European Commission said it was proposing to designate Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia as “safe countries of origin.”
The measure, criticized by the rights groups, is scheduled to allow the EU governments to process the asylum requests submitted from the citizens of those countries more quickly, introducing a presumption that such claims lack merit. “Many member states face an important accumulation of asylum applications, so anything we can do now to support faster asylum decisions is essential,” said Magnus Brunner, EU migration commissioner.
Brussels has been under pressure to tighten irregular arrivals and facilitation deportations, after a pleasure in public opinion on migration that has fed the hard -right -wing electoral profits in several countries.
On Wednesday, the commission said that EU candidate nations also, in principle, the criteria will be designated as safe countries. But it also established exceptions, even when they are beaten by a conflict, something that, for example, would exclude Ukraine.
The EU had already presented a similar list in 2015, but the plan was abandoned due to the heated debates about whether or not to include Turkey, another candidate for membership. The list published on Wednesday can be expanded or reviewed over time and reduced to the nations of which a significant number of applicants currently comes, the commission said.
Several Member States already designate countries that consider “safe” with respect to asylum: the list of France, for example, includes Mongolia, Serbia and Cabo Verde. The EU effort aims to harmonize the rules and ensure that all members have the same baseline. States can individually add the country to the EU list, but not subtract from it.
‘Deceptive and dangerous’
Asylum cases will still have to be examined individual, ensuring that existing safeguards remain in place and asylum seekers are not directly rejected, the commission added.
The plan must be approved by the European Parliament and the Member States before it can enter into force. But it has already been criticized by human rights groups. Euromed Rights, a general group, said that some of the countries that appear in the EU list suffered “documented rights abuses and limited protections for both their own citizens and for migrants.” “Labeling them ‘safe’ is misleading, and dangerous,” he wrote in X.
Irregular border crossings detected in the European Union fell 38% to 239,000 last year after a peak of almost 10 years in 2023, according to the EU Frontex border agency. Butks, including Italy, Denmark, and the Netherlands, EU leaders requested in October a new urgent legilation and accelerate returns and commission to evaluate “innovative” forms of counteracting irregular migration.
Currently, less than 20% of ordered people to leave the block are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data. Last month, the Commission presented a planned reform of the 27 -nations block return system, which opened the way for member states to establish migrant return centers outside the EU. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, on Wednesday praised the last EU movement as “a success for the Italian government.”
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