EU court decision restricts nations deemed safe for asylum seekers' return
The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has issued a ruling on 1 August 2025 that significantly impacts the designation of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers within the European Union. The decision sets a higher legal threshold for countries to be considered safe and undermines national unilateral lists when they lack transparency or exclude vulnerable groups.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy criticized the CJEU's decision, stating it narrows the room for maneuver of governments. The federal interior ministry in Germany is evaluating the CJEU's decision and remains silent about its concrete implications for the country.
The ruling requires Member States to provide transparent, verifiable sources for their assessment of a third country as a "safe country of origin" and ensure that the entire population of that country is adequately protected, including vulnerable groups such as homosexuals. This means that the designation must be subject to effective judicial review, and the information used must be accessible to both asylum applicants and national courts.
Until new EU asylum regulations take effect (expected June 2026 under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum), Member States cannot include countries on their safe country lists if parts of their population face persecution or lack protection.
In parallel, the European Commission proposed a common EU list of safe countries of origin on 16 April 2025, which includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco, and Tunisia. These changes aim to increase convergence in how safe countries are identified and to ensure protection standards meet EU legal requirements. The accelerated procedures will be mandatory for certain asylum seekers from these countries starting June 2026.
Italy’s controversial "Albania model," which used a national list for accelerated rejections of asylum claims, was a direct subject of the CJEU ruling. The ruling significantly raises the legal threshold for countries to be considered safe and undermines such national unilateral lists when they lack transparency or exclude vulnerable groups.
The two refugees from Bangladesh, who later arrived in Italy, filed a lawsuit there due to uncertainty about the compatibility of the Italian government’s safe country of origin list with EU law. The CJEU's ruling has implications for Germany, according to migration law expert Pauline Endres de Oliveira, as Germany also has a list of safe countries, which includes EU member states, Western Balkan countries, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, and Senegal.
The CJEU's ruling also raises questions about whether the planned accommodation of asylum seekers in such centers is legally equivalent to imprisonment, which could be problematic because, according to international law, no one may be imprisoned without legal grounds. The continuation of the "Albania model" after the CJEU's decision is uncertain, according to a legal expert, due to numerous legal questions surrounding the model.
In summary, the revised guidelines emphasize transparency, judicial oversight, and comprehensive protection for all residents of the designated "safe" countries, restricting the designation until these conditions are met and a harmonized EU framework is fully implemented by mid-2026.
The CJEU's ruling on the designation of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers within the European Union has implications for politics, specifically policy-and-legislation, as it requires Member States to provide transparent and verifiable sources for their assessment and ensure protection for all residents, including vulnerable groups such as homosexuals. (news)
Currently, the federal interior ministry in Germany is evaluating the CJEU's decision and remains silent about its concrete implications for the country, but migration law expert Pauline Endres de Oliveira suggests that it may affect Germany due to its own list of safe countries, which includes countries like Bangladesh that are part of the EU Commission's proposed common EU list. (general-news)
