{"id":399110,"date":"2024-10-21T18:08:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T16:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/10\/21\/lista-ue-paesi-terzi-sicuri-albania\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T13:57:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T11:57:05","slug":"brussels-revives-idea-of-safe-third-countries-list-ready-to-expand-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/10\/21\/brussels-revives-idea-of-safe-third-countries-list-ready-to-expand-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussels revives idea of safe third countries list, ready to expand definition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brussels &#8211; As the Italian government meets to enact a decree to override the Rome court ruling and save the &#8220;Albania model,&#8221; Brussels takes one step toward Rome and one step to the side: &#8220;<strong>We need to work on a common list of safe third countries, it is expected<\/strong>,&#8221; European Commission spokesmen let them know. To reiterate,\u00a0however, what EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson has already stated: &#8220;<strong>The measures taken by the Italian authorities must fully comply with EU law and treaties<\/strong> and must in no way undermine their application.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-map\" data-src=\"visualisation\/19924526\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/19924526\/thumbnail\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"map visualization\" \/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>It is precisely the concept of safe countries that has blown up Meloni&#8217;s controversial plan to divert asylum seekers to Albania. There is no common list of countries of origin considered safe in Europe\u2014the executive led by Jean-Claude Juncker had tried unsuccessfully <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/HTML\/?uri=CELEX:52015PC0452\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in 2015<\/a>\u2014but there are <strong>limits<\/strong> <strong>within which member states are allowed to draw up their own lists<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>According to Directive 2013\/32, &#8220;a country is considered to be a safe country of origin if, based on its legal status, the application of the law within a democratic system, and the general political situation, it can be demonstrated that there is generally and consistently no persecution (&#8230;), no torture or other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and no danger from indiscriminate violence in situations of internal or international armed conflict.&#8221; Based on that directive, on October 4, the European Court of Justice\u00a0<span style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/en\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%3A62022CJ0406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruled<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<strong>a third country, to be defined as safe, must be safe in every part and without exception<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_383869\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 428px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-383869 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"unhcr albania\" width=\"428\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-1024x687.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-1536x1030.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-2048x1374.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-750x503.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/000_34VE2RU-1140x765.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 428px) 100vw, 428px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-383869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The detention centre for migrants at the port of Shengjin, 60 km from Tirana (Photo by Adnan Beci \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Roman magistrates on whom the fury of the Italian right is bearing down have applied EU jurisprudence: Bangladesh and Egypt, the countries of origin of the 12 migrants <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/10\/18\/engines-in-full-reverse-migrants-brought-from-italy-to-albania-must-return-to-bari\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bounced<\/a> between Italy and Albania, were added to the list of safe countries by the Italian government last May 7, <strong>but the same Meloni executive had recognized and formalized some of their limits<\/strong>. Limits, however, which\u2014unlike for entirely safe countries\u2014do not allow Italian authorities to divert migrants to Albanian centres and speed up the procedures for examining asylum applications.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0px;\">In her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/10\/15\/external-hotspots-for-migrants-ursula-von-der-leyen-speaks-out-lets-learn-from-the-italy-albania-protocol\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> to the EU heads of state and government ahead of the European Council last week, Ursula von der Leyen announced that\u00a0<strong>the Commission will review &#8220;within the next year the concept of designated safe third countries<\/strong>.&#8221; But a substantial revision is already foreseen in the new Migration and Asylum Pact, adopted painstakingly by the 27 last spring: there is a <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%3A32024R1348\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">regulation<\/a> in the Pact that effectively repeals the directive in question and <strong>admits the possibility of partially safe country designation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0px;\">However, the Pact will be implemented two years after its adoption, starting in June 2026. Too long, given how much political credibility Giorgia Meloni bet\u00a0on the protocol with Albania. That&#8217;s a tough nut to crack for the premier because until then, Directive 2013\/32 will remain in force, and the EU Court of Justice&#8217;s October 4 ruling will dictate the line. Until then, Italy will have to &#8220;fully comply with EU law and treaties&#8221; without &#8220;undermining their application in any way,&#8221; warned Anitta Hipper, spokeswoman for the European Commission.<\/p>\n<p>For Meloni, there are two paths. In the\u00a0short term, she can\u00a0<strong>unilaterally revise the national list of safe countries by forcing the European directive<\/strong>\u00a0to verify actual security by the competent authorities and not directly by the Council president,\u00a0or wait for Ursula von der Leyen to come to her rescue, determined more than ever to leave room for &#8220;innovative solutions&#8221; by European governments to stop irregular migration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The controversy over the Rome court ruling that brought back to Italy the 12 migrants destined for detention centers in Albania holds sway. Migration and Asylum Pact will allow for only partial safe country designation, but will apply from June 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7527,"featured_media":399059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[29440,25871,26180,25754],"class_list":["post-399110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-migration-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399110"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399554,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399110\/revisions\/399554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}