Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an EU common list of safe countries of origin for the purposes of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, and amending Directive 2013/32/EU

The European Commission presented a comprehensive European Agenda on Migration on 13 May 2015, outlining, in addition to the immediate measures proposed shortly thereafter by the Commission to respond to the crisis situation in the Mediterranean, further initiatives that need to be taken to provide structural solutions for better managing migration in all its aspects.

As part of the structural initiatives considered and in light of the current unprecedented pressure on Member States’ asylum systems, the Commission stressed the need to have a more effective approach to abuses and indicated its intention to strengthen the safe country of origin provisions of Directive 2013/32/EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection in order to support the swift processing of asylum applications from persons originating from countries designated as safe. As underlined by the European Council in its conclusions of 25 and 26 June 2015, this includes the establishment of an EU common list of safe countries of origin.

Directive 2013/32/EU enables Member States to apply specific procedural rules, in particular accelerated and border procedures, where the applicant is a national of a country (or a stateless person in relation to a third country of former habitual residence) that has been designated as safe country of origin by national law and that, in addition, may be considered as safe for the applicant in light of his or her particular circumstances. Only some Member States have adopted national lists of safe countries of origin. In addition these national lists present some divergences that could result from differences in the assessment of the safety of certain third countries or from differences in the nature of the flows of third country nationals that the Member States are facing.

Currently EU law does not contain an EU common list of safe countries of origin. The present proposal aims at establishing such a EU common list, on the basis of the common criteria set in Directive 2013/32/EU, as it will facilitate the use by all Member States of the procedures linked to the application of the safe country of origin concept and, thereby, to increase the overall efficiency of their asylum systems as concerns applications for international protection which are likely to be unfounded. An EU common list will also reduce the existing divergences between Member States’ national lists of safe countries of origin, thereby facilitating convergence in the procedures and deterring secondary movements of applicants for international protection.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)452: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:452:FIN

ESO: Background information: Refugee Crisis: European Commission takes decisive action http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-refugee-crisis-european-commission-takes-decisive-action/

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

EP: EPRS: Briefing, October 2015: Safe countries of origin: Proposed common EU list [EU Legislation in Progress] http://epthinktank.eu/2015/10/08/safe-countries-of-origin-proposed-common-eu-list-eu-legislation-in-progress/

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