EU court decision curtails lists of secure nations of origin origins
EU Court of Justice Ruling Shapes New Asylum Procedures in Europe
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has issued a ruling that will significantly impact asylum procedures across the European Union (EU). The decision, which has been met with both praise and criticism, sets new standards for designating safe countries of origin for accelerated asylum processes.
According to migration law expert Pauline Endres de Oliveira, the ruling is groundbreaking for Germany. The decision, she says, further narrows the already limited scope for action of governments in the EU. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy echoed this sentiment, stating that the decision adds to the limited scope for action of governments even further.
The federal interior ministry of Germany, however, remains cautious about the concrete implications of the ruling for Germany. A spokesman for the ministry has stated that they will evaluate the decision of the CJEU.
The CJEU's ruling emphasizes that Member States may accelerate asylum processing for nationals from countries officially designated as safe. This means that faster, often border-level, accelerated procedures will be applied to assess asylum applications from these countries, which are considered to have low recognition rates for international protection.
The European Commission has proposed a common EU-level list of safe countries of origin, which includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco, and Tunisia. If adopted by the European Parliament and Council, this list will provide a uniform standard for identifying safe countries, replacing fragmented national lists.
Key features of the new rules are mandatory border procedures starting from June 2026 for certain asylum seekers from countries with low protection recognition rates. Asylum seekers from safe countries would undergo these accelerated procedures and generally would not be authorized to enter the EU territory during the process.
The CJEU ruling reaffirmed that accelerated procedures and the exclusion of asylum seekers at the border from certain "safe" countries are legally permissible, ensuring a balance between expedited processing and respect for EU asylum laws.
However, human rights organizations have expressed concerns about potential risks to asylum seekers from countries included in the safe list but documented to have human rights issues, such as Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. National governments like Germany are moving to legally codify the classification of safe countries of origin to speed up deportations and limit legal representation rights of applicants from these countries, aligning their national law with the EU strategy.
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union must still approve the EU Commission's proposal. The CJEU has also ruled that the assessment of safe countries of origin must be judicially reviewable. The future of projects like Italy's "Albania model," which examines asylum applications from male adult migrants coming from safe countries of origin and intercepted in the Mediterranean in fast-track procedures abroad, remains uncertain.
The CJEU has raised the standard for designating safe countries of origin for accelerated asylum procedures. A state can only be classified as safe if its entire territory is meant. The lawyer for the plaintiffs from Bangladesh, who later arrived in Italy and filed a lawsuit there, considered the ruling a victory for the primacy of EU law over the claims of individual member states.
Until a new EU asylum regulation comes into force, EU countries may not designate a third country as a "safe" country of origin if certain groups, such as homosexual people, are not safe there. The ruling of the CJEU is undeniably shaping the future of asylum procedures in the EU, with a focus on harmonized accelerated asylum procedures using a common list of safe countries of origin, applied predominantly through border procedures from mid-2026 onward.
News regarding the EU Court of Justice's ruling is generating discussion in the realm of politics and policy-and-legislation, as it has the potential to significantly alter asylum procedures across Europe. This decision sets new standards for designating safe countries of origin, which will prompt general-news coverage and debate among migration law experts and government officials.
