Olivia Sundberg Dies noted that “the European Parliament is capitulating to a long-standing campaign to undermine human rights, starting with the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. This alarming political shift undermines the fundamental principles of the EU.”
She added: “The decision made today implies that people seeking asylum in the EU may be denied the opportunity for their applications to be considered without proper assessment and sent to countries with which they have no ties and where they have never been. These measures indicate that the EU is abandoning its commitments to protect refugees and paving the way for agreements between member states to transfer asylum applications to third countries.”
Sundberg Dies also emphasized: “This agreement leads to the creation of a pan-European list of 'safe' countries of origin, which places the burden of proof on asylum seekers to demonstrate otherwise. This undermines the principle of individual assessment of their protection requests and creates additional barriers in an already complex legal system, which will inevitably lead to refusals of protection for those who are genuinely at risk.”
On February 10, the European Parliament approved new rules regarding the concept of 'safe third country' in the EU Regulation on asylum procedures. The introduced list of 'safe countries of origin' will simplify the process for member states to declare asylum applications inadmissible without actual consideration, as well as the possibility of forcibly transferring individuals seeking protection to countries where they have no ties. Additionally, the suspension of appeals in such cases is being lifted, which could lead to deportations before the completion of the complaint review process.
Among the countries included in the list of safe countries of origin are Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco, and Tunisia, as well as some candidates for EU membership (with exceptions). It is expected that citizens of these countries do not require protection, and their applications will be processed in an expedited manner, which calls into question the individual approach to assessing their requests.
