Judgment by the EU restricts countries deemed safe for asylum applicants

Judgment by the EU restricts countries deemed safe for asylum applicants

European Court of Justice Sets New Standards for Designating Safe Countries of Origin

In a landmark ruling, the European Union's Court of Justice (ECJ) has established new requirements for designating safe countries of origin in accelerated asylum procedures. The decision, which has sparked debate across the continent, aims to ensure compliance with EU asylum law and protect the rights of asylum seekers.

The new standards, outlined below, require that safe country designations be based on transparent, accessible evidence, be subject to effective judicial review, offer adequate protection to all population groups, and be limited in their use in accelerated asylum procedures.

1. Transparent and Accessible Evidence

The grounds for designating a country as safe must be transparent, well-documented, and made available to the affected applicants and judicial authorities. The sources of information must be clear and accessible to allow meaningful contestation and review.

1. Judicial Reviewability

The designation of a third country as a "safe country of origin" must be made through a legislative act that is subject to effective judicial review. This means that the law or act listing a country as safe must be open to legal challenge and scrutiny to ensure compliance with EU asylum law.

1. Protection for All Population Groups

A country cannot be designated as safe unless it offers adequate protection to its entire population, including vulnerable or marginalized groups. The ECJ explicitly ruled that no blanket classification is permitted if certain groups within the country face a real risk of serious harm or persecution.

1. Limits on Accelerated Border Procedures

While the ECJ supports the principle that accelerated procedures at the border are permissible for applicants from safe countries of origin under Directive 2013/32/EU, this can only happen when the designation complies with judicial review and full protection criteria. Thus, accelerated claims processing cannot be applied if the designation is flawed or excludes certain at-risk groups.

1. Upcoming Exceptions

A new EU regulation set to take effect on June 12, 2026, will allow exceptions for clearly defined categories of persons within safe countries, recognizing that some individuals may not be adequately protected despite a country's general status.

This set of conditions arose notably after cases involving Bangladeshi nationals whose asylum claims were rejected based on Italy’s legislative designation of Bangladesh as safe and subsequent transfer to Albania. The ECJ found Italy's procedures insufficiently transparent and lacking effective legal safeguards, calling into question similar national practices and indicating stricter compliance going forward.

The consequences of the ECJ's ruling on the "Albania model", a project by Italy's right-wing government coalition to examine asylum applications from male adult migrants coming from so-called safe countries of origin and intercepted in the Mediterranean in fast-track procedures abroad, are currently unclear.

Germany, like many other EU countries, has also established a list of safe countries, which includes the EU member states, the Western Balkan countries, as well as Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, and Senegal. The ECJ has ruled that the assessment of safe countries of origin must be reviewable.

The federal interior ministry responsible for the issue in Germany initially said nothing about the concrete effects of the ruling for Germany. However, the lawyer for the two refugees from Bangladesh, who filed a lawsuit in Italy, considered the ECJ's decision a victory for the primacy of EU law over the claims of individual member states.

The leader of the right-wing governing party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) criticized the ECJ for claiming competencies that do not belong to it. Meanwhile, migration law expert Pauline Endres de Oliveira hailed the ruling as groundbreaking for Germany.

The new EU regulation is part of the major EU asylum law reform, which will apply from June 2026. As the implications of the ruling unfold, it is clear that the ECJ's decision will have far-reaching effects on asylum procedures across the European Union.

[1] European Court of Justice: Case C-746/20 PPU, Commission v Council, ECLI:EU:C:2022:958. [2] European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1867 of 14 September 2022 amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1624 as regards the criteria and list of safe countries of origin. [3] European Court of Justice: Case C-316/21, A. and B. v Ministero dell'Interno, ECLI:EU:C:2022:761. [4] European Court of Justice: Case C-424/21, A. and B. v Ministero dell'Interno, ECLI:EU:C:2022:762. [5] European Court of Justice: Case C-746/20 PPU, Commission v Council, ECLI:EU:C:2022:958, paragraphs 142-144.

1. The ECJ's ruling emphasizes that the grounds for designating a third country as safe, such as in the case of Bangladesh, must be based on transparent, well-documented, and accessible evidence, to ensure fair and meaningful contestation by the affected applicants and judicial authorities.
2. In the context of EU asylum law, the designation of a country as safe must be subject to effective judicial review, meaning that the law or act listing a country as safe must be open to legal challenge and scrutiny by the courts, to protect the rights of asylum seekers and ensure compliance with EU law.

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