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The creation of an initial list of safe countries of origin for the European Union is certainly a step forward on the part of the Commission with regard to immigration policies, in addition to being describable (in the willingness to accelerate certain rules) as a move closer to the system imagined and set up by the Italian Government of Premier Giorgia Meloni.
THE LIST OF SAFE COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
The presentation of this list had already been announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her letter to the leaders of the member states in preparation for the EU summit in March. In that text, the President had confirmed her intention to draw up the list and present it in the following weeks. Thus, on 16 April, the list was announced, with the result of many citizens from fifteen different countries having their asylum applications analysed under an accelerated procedure. This process, as also provided for in last year’s Migration Pact, can be carried out at the border or in transit zones. The list also includes candidate countries for entry into the European Union, because the Commission considered that they already meet (at least in principle) the ‘safe country’ criteria for obtaining this status. This list includes Albania, Bosnia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, to which are added Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia. Naturally, the list may be updated over time, and in any case it does not replace the lists drawn up by the governments of the individual EU member states, but only supplements them. To understand this list, one must of course consider the data and must in fact bear in mind that migrants from these countries have a very low rate of recognition of international protection, often even less than 5%.
ENTRY INTO FORCE AND ACCELERATION
What the Commission has done represents certainly an important step forward, especially for the member states most directly involved in the phenomenon of immigration, because of their being located at the borders of the European Union. However, considering that the Migration and Asylum Pact will not enter into force until June 2026, it is certainly important to analyse the Commission’s proposal to accelerate the implementation of two rules. The first one concerns the possibility for member states to apply an accelerated procedure for citizens arriving from countries where 20% or less of the applicants obtain some form of international protection. The second rule concerns the designation of safe countries of origin (which complement the Commission’s list) and safe third countries (places where asylum seekers rejected by the EU can be deported), giving member states the possibility to exclude regions or categories of individuals who are clearly and unequivocally identifiable.
THE ITALIAN CASE
The fact that Prime Minister Meloni immediately applauded the Commission’s initiative is certainly linked to the critical issues that Italy found in the functioning of the agreement with Albania. In fact, it has not been easy in the past to settle the dispute over the designation of a country as safe. This led the courts of some EU states to block the expulsion procedures of migrants processed under fast-track procedures. The reason for this decision concerned the method by which a country could be considered safe. The same issue also gave rise to the problems of the agreement between Italy and Albania, with the Meloni government wanting to process applications from some asylum seekers on Albanian territory. The freezing of transfers, in this case as well, was decreed by the Courts (and referred to the EU Court of Justice) because it was not clear whether the countries of origin of the applicants could be considered safe in their entirety. It is for this reason that Prime Minister Meloni welcomed not only the list proposed by the Commission (reductive compared to that of Italy, which contains nineteen countries), but above all the acceleration on the rule that provides for the designation of safe countries even with territorial exceptions or for categories of people. A sure step forward in migration policies, that above all gives reason to the Italian government, always in the front line on the Union’s southern front.