Brussels, Belgium. Four of Cyprus’ six members of the European Parliament voted in favour of creating a common EU list of safe countries of origin for returning asylum seekers and rejecting their claims. The motion passed 408 votes to 184 and will become EU law if approved and formally adopted by the Council of the EU.
Cypriot voting breakdown
Loucas Fourlas and Michalis Hadjipantela of Disy, Geadis Geadi of Elam and independent Fidias Panayiotou voted to approve the motion. Akel’s Giorgos Georgiou voted against it, while Diko’s Costas Mavrides did not vote.
Next steps and proposed safe countries list
If approved by the Council of the EU, the law would establish an EU list of safe countries, with asylum seekers from those countries having their applications fast-tracked. The European Parliament has listed Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia.
Burden of proof for applicants
Under the proposal, asylum seekers from listed countries would have to prove that the designation of their country as safe “should not apply in their case because of a well-founded fear of persecution or the risk of serious harm if sent back to their country”.
Presumption of safety for EU candidate countries
All EU candidates — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine — would be presumed to be safe countries of origin. This status would change if “relevant circumstances, such as indiscriminate violence in the context of an armed conflict, if their citizens have an EU-wide asylum recognition rate of above 20 per cent, or economic sanctions affecting fundamental rights and freedoms” indicate they may no longer be safe.
Conditions for rejecting individual applications
EU member states would be able to reject individual applications from countries considered safe for those individuals in particular if one of three conditions is met. The first is if there remains “a connection between an applicant and the … country”, including the presence of immediate family members. The second is if the applicant transited through a third country on the way to the EU where they could have claimed asylum. The third is if “an agreement or arrangement exists with the third country at a bilateral, multilateral or EU level for the admission of asylum seekers”.
How do you think the proposed EU list of safe countries of origin could affect asylum procedures in your country?