Safe countries of origin: Proposed common EU list

‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings aim to provide Members of the European Parliament with systematic and automatic analysis on all substantial proposals for EU legislation at every stage of the legislative procedure. Each contains an account of the purpose, content and legal aspects of the legislation proposed, in particular analysing what the legislation would change, as well as any previous legislation and the background. An overview of stakeholders’ views is also provided, as well as the opinions of national parliaments and the two advisory committees.

They are all made publicly available for stakeholders and the public.

The briefings are continuously updated as they pass through the policy making process and the source url hyperlink above should take you to the latest available version.As part of the European Agenda on Migration, the European Commission proposed a regulation on 9 September 2015 to establish a common EU list of safe countries of origin, initially comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

The aim was to fast-track asylum applications from citizens of these countries, which are considered 'safe' in full compliance with the criteria set out in the Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU and the principle of non-refoulement. Currently, lists were defined at national level and not coordinated, which can lead to different recognition rates of similar asylum applications, and thus create incentives for secondary movements and asylum-shopping.

• Primary Source

EP: EPRS: Briefing: EU Legislation in Progress http://epthinktank.eu/eu-legislation-in-progress/

ESO: Background information: Asylum: EU list of safe countries of origin to replace national lists in 3 years http://www.europeansources.info/record/asylum-eu-list-of-safe-countries-of-origin-to-replace-national-lists-in-3-years/

ESO: Background information: 'Safe countries of origin': Assessing the new proposal http://www.europeansources.info/record/safe-countries-of-origin-assessing-the-new-proposal/

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

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