Today, the European Union published a list of seven countries it deems “safe,” aiming to streamline the return of migrants and tighten asylum procedures across the bloc. The newly proposed designation targets Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco, and Tunisia—nations from which many asylum seekers currently originate.
By labeling these as “safe countries of origin,” the EU intends to expedite the processing of asylum claims from their citizens, based on the assumption that such claims are generally unfounded. The European Commission emphasized that the move is designed to ease pressure on overwhelmed asylum systems in member states.
“With a growing backlog of asylum cases, accelerating decisions is essential,” said Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. The proposal is also part of broader efforts to curb irregular migration amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment and political gains by hard-right parties across Europe.
The Commission clarified that EU candidate countries can also qualify as “safe,” except in cases of conflict, such as in war-torn Ukraine. The plan builds on a similar attempt in 2015 that collapsed amid divisions over including Turkey.
While some member states, like France, already maintain their own lists of “safe” countries, the EU’s initiative seeks to create a unified approach. Countries may add to the common list but cannot remove nations from it. Individual assessments will still be required for each asylum application to uphold legal safeguards.
However, human rights organizations have sharply criticized the proposal. EuroMed Rights warned that several of the countries on the list have documented records of rights violations and insufficient protections for both citizens and migrants, calling the move “misleading and dangerous.”
The new list must be approved by the European Parliament and member states before implementation. Meanwhile, the EU border agency Frontex reported a 38% decline in irregular entries last year, down to 239,000 following a near-decade high in 2023.
