Brussels – The European Parliament has dealt the final blow to the EU asylum system as it has been constructed over the last twenty years. In two separate votes, the right-wing and far-right majority in the Chamber gave the final green light to the first European list of safe countries of origin and to the revision of the criteria for applying the concept of safe third countries. This is a victory for the “Albania model” that outsources asylum procedures and international protection. The losers are migrants, whose right to asylum – and other fundamental rights – will be significantly curtailed. And ultimately, Europe itself is thus betraying some of the values that have so far distinguished it on the global stage.
The EU list of safe countries of origin, which will initially include Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco, and Tunisia, was approved by 408 votes in favour, 184 against, and 60 abstentions. The same majority, with a few defections, confirmed the most controversial regulation, the one relating to the application of the safe third-country concept, approved with 396 votes in favour, 226 against, and 30 abstentions. The outcome of the vote was almost a foregone conclusion: the two measures, proposed by the European Commission last spring, had already been approved by the European Parliament and confirmed in inter-institutional negotiations. Today’s vote is the final step in the legislative process.
In addition to the three far-right groups – Europe of Nations (ESN), Patriots for Europe (PfE), and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – the European People’s Party also supported the crackdown on asylum seekers. The Renew liberals were divided in both votes, and even among the ranks of the Socialists and Democrats, around 20 MEPs approved the measures. There were no surprises among the Italian party delegations: the League, Fratelli d’Italia, and Forza Italia were in favour of the hard line, while the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, and the Green and Left Alliance opposed it.
Both regulations were provided for in the Migration and Asylum Pact, which will come into force in June. With regard to the EU list of safe countries of origin, Member States will be required to implement accelerated or border procedures for all citizens from the countries listed by Brussels. Asylum applications will be assessed within a maximum of three months, rather than six, and migrants will be detained throughout the procedure.
The EU list becomes binding, but it does not prevent Member States from drawing up larger national lists. In practice, EU countries will be able to speed up the examination of asylum applications for all citizens coming from countries whose recognition rate is below 20 per cent, and they may designate as safe third countries and safe countries of origin even those that are not safe for everyone or in every part of their territory. EU accession candidate countries will also be considered safe countries of origin provided there is no war on their territory, no EU sanctions have been imposed on them, and their asylum‑recognition rate does not exceed 20 per cent. It will be up to the individual asylum seeker to prove that the accelerated procedure (and, therefore, the likely rejection of the asylum application) should not apply in their case because of a well-founded fear of persecution or the risk of serious harm on return.
Revising the concept of safe third countries will also enable faster asylum procedures. However, it will also open the door to the outsourcing of international protection. In essence, the obligation for national asylum authorities to prove the existence of a link between the applicant and the safe third country to which they wish to transfer them will be removed. Member States will be able to apply the concept of safe third country to an asylum seeker who is not a national of that particular country, and thus declare their application for protection at the EU level inadmissible.
Not only will transit through a safe third country during the journey to the EU become sufficient grounds for denying protection, but asylum seekers may be deported – with the sole exception of unaccompanied minors – to any other non-EU country with which a bilateral or EU-level agreement has been signed, provided that this third country meets a series of conditions that qualify it as safe.
European institutions have already anticipated a likely surge in appeals against forced transfers and have taken steps to regulate the procedures governing them. The regulation will eliminate the automatic suspensive effect of appeals to “help reduce procedural delays in the application of the concept of safe third countries and prevent potential abuse of the possibilities for appeal by applicants.” However, this means that migrants who appeal against the rejection of their asylum applications will risk being deported even before the final decision is made.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
