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EU to ease rules on third-country asylum deals

The European Commission is proposing to change asylum rules to allow member states to send international-protection applicants to ‘safe third countries’.

The EU body says that the move will speed up asylum processes and reduce pressure on systems, while preserving the legal safeguards for applicants and ensuring respect of fundamental rights.

The ‘safe third country’ concept allows EU states to consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection in a third country that is considered safe for them.

Under current EU law, however, the asylum authorities must prove a connection between the applicant and the third country concerned.

Transit ‘sufficient link’

Under the proposed changes, a connection between the applicant and the third county would no longer be mandatory.

“Member states may choose to apply the ‘safe third country’ concept where there is a connection as defined under national law,” the commission says, adding that transit through a third country before reaching the EU could now also be considered as a sufficient link.

The commission’s proposals also provide “an agreement or arrangement” with a third country even when there is no connection or transit.

Such deals will ensure that there is an examination of the request for effective protection in the third country, so that applicants can receive protection if justified.

The commission adds that this option will not apply to unaccompanied children.

Appeals

In a change that the EU body says is aimed at reducing procedural delays and preventing abuse, appeals against decisions linked to the ‘safe third country’ concept will no longer have the effect of suspending a transfer.

The proposal requires EU states to inform the commission and other EU members before concluding agreements or arrangements with third countries.

Under EU law, third countries can be considered safe when they fulfil several conditions, such as:

• Protection against refoulement (return of asylum-seekers to their country of origin or a country where they risk persecution),
• The absence of real risk of serious harm and of threats to life and liberty on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion, and
• The possibility to request and receive effective protection.

Pressure

The commission proposal must now be agreed by EU governments and the European Parliament.

Magnus Brunner (commissioner for migration) said that EU countries had been under “significant migratory pressure” for the past decade.

He described the ‘safe third country’ concept as “another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way, while fully respecting the EU’s values and fundamental rights”.