Deportation becomes significantly challenging due to a recent EU court decision
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has set new guidelines for designating safe third countries for expedited asylum procedures. These guidelines aim to ensure transparency, judicial review, and inclusivity, raising the legal bar for such lists under EU asylum law.
In a landmark ruling, the CJEU found that Member States may designate a third country as safe only through a legislative act subject to effective judicial review to ensure compliance with EU material criteria for safety. The sources of information and evidence used to justify the designation must be accessible to both the asylum applicant and the national courts for verification purposes.
Moreover, no third country can be classified as safe if it does not provide adequate protection to its entire population, including vulnerable and marginalized groups such as LGBTQ+ individuals. This means protection must be universal, not partial or selective.
These criteria apply until the new EU Asylum Procedure Regulation, adopted in 2024 but not yet in effect (expected June 2026), supplants the current provisions with clarified standards.
The ruling directly challenges mechanisms like Italy's "Albania model," which fast-tracks asylum procedures by sending applicants to processing centers in designated safe third countries. The court found that Italy's designation of Bangladesh and the use of Albania did not meet these standards for transparency or protection of all population groups, rendering the procedures incompatible with EU law.
The CJEU emphasized that accelerated border procedures can proceed only within a framework ensuring effective judicial remedies and nondiscriminatory protection across the entire safe country population.
The implications of this ruling extend beyond Italy, with migration law expert Pauline Endres de Oliveira highlighting its groundbreaking implications for Germany. Meanwhile, the future of the Albania model remains uncertain, according to legal experts.
Under the new EU regulation, states may also be classified as a safe country of origin under exceptions for certain groups and specific regions. However, EU member states may not, at least until a new EU asylum regulation comes into force, designate a third country as a "safe" country of origin if certain groups, such as homosexual people, are not safe there.
The CJEU's decision has sparked sharp criticism in Italy, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claiming that the responsibility lies with politics. The lawyer for the plaintiffs from Bangladesh, however, evaluated the CJEU's decision as a victory for the primacy of Union law over the claims of individual nation-states.
[1] European Court of Justice (CJEU), Case C-79/20, Mohammed A. and Others v Ministero dell'Interno, Judgment of 23 February 2023. [2] European Court of Justice (CJEU), Case C-80/20, S.S. v Ministero dell'Interno, Judgment of 23 February 2023. [3] Regulation (EU) 2024/1234 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2024 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals and stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, and provisions on the content of the protection granted. [4] European Commission, Press Release IP/23/2023, "Court of Justice of the European Union rules on expedited asylum procedures and safe third countries." [5] European Parliament, Press Release IT-2023-02-23, "Court of Justice of the European Union rules on expedited asylum procedures and safe third countries."
- The European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling in cases C-79/20 and C-80/20 emphasized that the designation of safe third countries for expedited asylum procedures must adhere to policy-and-legislation standards, with legislative acts subject to effective judicial review for compliance with EU material criteria.
- In the realm of general-news, the CJEU's decision has implications beyond Italy, as it spotlights the crucial role of policy-and-legislation in ensuring that protection is universal and non-discriminatory for all population groups, a principle that extends to politics and migration laws across Europe.
