Overview of the Implementation of Safe Country Concepts

 

This biannual overview is published in January and July. This edition covers the period July-December 2025.

In the context of asylum, the term 'safe country' refers to countries which generally do not generate protection needs for their people. European Union (EU) law provides four safe country concepts which can be applied in the asylum procedure: safe country of origin, safe third country, first country of asylum and European safe third country. These concepts are regulated in the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (APD).

Currently, the implementation of the safe country concepts in EU+ countries is highly divergent. However, greater convergence is expected as the transposition of the safe country of origin concept will become mandatory for all Member States under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will enter into application in June 2026. In particular, provisions regulating the safe country concepts are found in Section 5 of the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR). The APR aims to establish common criteria for designating third countries as safe countries of origin, a common EU list of safe countries, as well as a common procedure for processing such applications. An overview of changes introduced by the APR are available in the following briefings by the European Parliamentary Research Service: 'Safe country of origin' concept in EU asylum law (May 2025) and Safe third country concept in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum (December 2024).

This overview highlights developments between July and December 2025 concerning the implementation of the safe country of origin and safe third country concepts at the EU level and in EU+ countries. It also presents the state of play on the implementation of national lists of safe countries as of 31 December 2025, based on data available in the Who is Who in International Protection in the EU+ platform.

Current state of play

Safe country of origin
  • 23 EU+ countries have adopted a national list of safe countries of origin. The Netherlands has temporarily suspended the application of its national list pending the introduction of an EU list under the Pact.
  • Finland and Portugal implement the safe country of origin concept on a case-by-case basis.
  • Lithuania and Romania do not implement the concept as a national list has not been adopted.
  • Latvia and Spain do not implement the concept as relevant legal provisions on the designation of a list do not exist.
  • Poland does not define the safe country of origin concept in law.
  • Only 8 countries are recognised as safe by more than 14 EU+ countries which implement a national list. These include Albania (by 21 countries), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia (20 countries each), Kosovo (19 countries), Georgia (17 countries) and Ghana (14 countries).
  • A majority of countries of origin (35 countries) are listed as safe by 3 or less EU+ countries which implement a national list.
  • 7 EU+ countries which implement a national list (Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland) also apply exceptions for specific geographical areas or profiles of asylum seekers within a country of origin (see Table 2). 
     
For more information about Safe Country of Origin see Table 1.
Safe third country
  • The safe third country concept is not applied uniformly in all EU+ countries.
  • The safe third country concept is included in national legislation in all EU+ countries, except France, Iceland, Italy and Poland.
  • Only six EU+ countries have adopted a national list of safe third countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Switzerland).
  • When the national legal framework refers to the safe third country concept but a national list has not been adopted, the concept is applied on a case-by-case basis in 14 EU+ countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden).
  • Czechia, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain refer to the concept in national law but do not apply it in practice.
  • Estonia and Hungary are the only countries which apply exceptions to the application of the safe third country concept based on geographical location and certain profiles of applicants (see Table 2). The exceptions applied by both countries are identical to those applied to the application of the safe country of origin concept.

 

For more information about Safe Third Country see Table 3.