Updates on the Safe Countries List
The main changes concern the list of safe countries of origin – Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco, and Tunisia – which will allow expedited border procedures (which provide fewer guarantees than standard ones) to be applied to migrants from these territories. These procedures can also be followed by migrant transit countries, as well as at EU borders. This move meets Italy’s requests, which are seeing a significant increase in arrivals from Bangladesh, Egypt, and Tunisia. This move also allows the Meloni government to claim victory over the judges, who until now had blocked migrant detention in Albania due to the inability to recognize certain countries of origin as safe.
To date, no country can be considered safe unless it is considered safe for its entire population and for every portion of its territory. Recently, the European Court of Justice ruled that a government can designate a country as safe via a decree, but the final decision rests with the judges, who must be able to evaluate that decision.
The EU’s list of safe countries of origin includes the concept of a safe non-EU third country. This will allow member states to reject an asylum application without even examining it if it could have been accepted by a third country (deemed safe) through which the migrant transited before reaching the European border. This way, for example, an application from someone arriving in Italy via Tunisia could be rejected and referred to the Tunisian government if it has not previously examined it.
The new rules on “return hubs”
But the part of the regulation that has Palazzo Chigi rejoicing concerns the so-called return hubs, or the possibility for member states to establish centers in third countries. This innovation, the government sees as a real opportunity for the Albanian model to work, after months of stagnation amid empty facilities, reduced staff, and controversy over the huge costs incurred to finance and maintain them. “The Albanian centers are strongly committed to re-establishing all the functions for which they were designed, including detention facilities for the implementation of accelerated border procedures, but above all, to becoming the first example of the return hubs cited in one of these approved regulations,” Piantedosi stated yesterday.
So, will the centers in Albania finally be operational from June? Not exactly. First, the hubs required by European regulations must be designated for irregular migrants, already considered as such on European soil, and not for people awaiting accelerated border procedures (as the Meloni government would like). Therefore, if they fail to comply with the requirements the EU is preparing to establish for the operation of these hubs, it is not a given that the centers in Albania will be rehabilitated.
Furthermore, some issues remain, such as the migrants’ right to defense, which must be guaranteed, and the obligation for every country party to the Geneva Convention (Italy included) to examine asylum requests. This would conflict with the plan to “offload” responsibility for procedures onto third-party transit countries, even when deemed safe. In short, the majority celebrates the EU’s “turning point,” but it remains to be seen whether the new Migration and Asylum Pact will allow Meloni to keep her word and fulfill her promises, which have so far remained unfulfilled.
