Decision by EU restricts countries deemed safe for asylum claims
Revised EU Asylum Procedures Emphasize Transparency and Individual Rights
Following a landmark ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Italy's "Albania model," the European Union (EU) is set to implement revised asylum procedures for safe countries of origin. These new procedures aim to strike a balance between procedural efficiency and the protection of individual rights.
In August 2025, the CJEU ruled that Italy’s approach to fast-track deportations to countries it designates as "safe" is lawful only if the authorities disclose the sources and evidence used to determine the safety status of these countries. This ruling sets limitations that aim to guarantee transparency and protect the rights of asylum seekers by requiring substantiated assessments of a country's safety.
The EU’s broader revised procedures, part of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, involve applying a common EU list of safe countries of origin with accelerated border procedures starting from June 2026. This list, currently proposed to include Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco, and Tunisia, targets countries from which recognition rates for international protection are low (20% or less). Asylum applications from nationals of these countries will undergo faster, mandatory border procedures where claims are rapidly assessed for admissibility, aiming to filter out unfounded claims but not allowing applicants to enter the EU territory during the procedure.
However, concerns have been raised that accelerated procedures linked to safe country designations might undermine individual assessments and overlook specific vulnerabilities or protection needs, due to shortened timeframes and restricted access to legal aid. To address these concerns, the EU legislation (Asylum Procedures Regulation Art 42(j) 2024/1348) enforces transparency and ensures individual assessments despite presumptions linked to safe country status.
The EU Commission proposed the new regulation in April, which allows member states to designate safe countries of origin with exceptions. The CJEU has further increased the requirements for designating safe countries of origin for accelerated asylum procedures. For example, a country cannot be designated as safe if certain population groups, such as homosexual people, are not safe there.
Critics of the revised procedures argue that they narrow the room for maneuver of governments and that the judiciary is encroaching on competencies that do not belong to it. However, the lawyer for the plaintiffs from Bangladesh considered the CJEU’s decision a victory for the primacy of EU law over the claims of individual member states.
As the EU moves forward with these revised asylum procedures, it remains to be seen how they will be implemented and how they will impact the rights of asylum seekers. The federal interior ministry responsible for the issue in Germany will evaluate the CJEU’s decision, and the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union must still approve the proposed regulation.
References 1. EU Pact on Migration and Asylum 2. EU Asylum Procedures Regulation Art 42(j) 2024/1348 3. CJEU ruling on Italy's "Albania model" 4. CJEU ruling on transparency in safe country designations
- The revised EU Asylum Procedures, as part of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, will implement changes in policy-and-legislation that aim to balance efficiency and individual rights, including a focus on transparency in safe country designations, as directed by the CJEU in its ruling on Italy's "Albania model."
- The ongoing discussions and approvals of the EU's new asylum procedures in the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, as well as the evaluations by individual member states' governments, underscores the importance of politics in shaping the general-news story of the revised asylum policies.
