Implementation of Safe Country Concepts

On 18 December 2025, the European Parliament and the Council reached provisional political agreement on the following new rules aimed at facilitating the application of the safe third country concept and allowing Member States greater flexibility:

• The mandatory obligation to establish a connection between the applicant and the safe third country was removed.
• Two additional criteria may be sufficient to apply the concept: cases when the applicant transited through a safe third country before reaching the EU, or in the absence of transit or a connection to a safe third country, on the basis of an agreement or arrangement with a safe third country that includes safeguards ensuring that the applicant’s asylum application will be examined there. The latter option does not apply to unaccompanied minors.
• Appeals against an inadmissibility decision based on the safe third country concept will no longer carry an automatic right to remain in the EU pending a decision on the appeal. However, applicants retain the right to request a suspensive effect (right to remain on the territory) from the body that is competent to adjudicate such a request.

Additionally, the following was agreed on the application of the safe country of origin concept:

• Inclusion of the following countries on an EU list: Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo According to the Council and the European Parliament, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. Morocco, and Tunisia.
• The inclusion of EU accession candidate countries in the EU list, provided that the following three criteria are satisfied: there is no situation of international or internal armed conflict, no restrictive measures affecting fundamental rights and freedom, and the recognition rate for asylum claims by nationals of these countries is not higher than 20% across the EU.
• The European Commission is responsible for monitoring whether the above exceptions for EU candidate countries apply or cease to apply and must inform Member States accordingly.
• An entire country, or part of its territory or population, may be suspended by the European Commission from being designated as safe at the EU level, following a substantiated assessment.
• Member States may complement the EU list with their own national list, including additional non-EU countries.
• The EU list will begin to apply once the Pact enters into application on 12 June 2026, while it was agreed that certain provisions, such as the application of exceptions of the safe country concepts based on territorial areas and categories of persons, may be fast-tracked upon the entry into force of this agreement.

This provisional agreement must now be formally confirmed by both institutions prior to its official adoption.

On 1 August 2025, in LC [Alace] and CP [Canpelli] v Territorial Commission of Rome (joined cases C-758/24 and C-759/24), the CJEU ruled that:

• Exceptions based on categories of persons are not permitted under the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (APD). It is up to the EU legislator to amend the concept or bring forward the application date for the new Pact provisions which allow for such exceptions.

• Member States may designate by legislative act a third country as a safe country of origin, provided that that designation can be subject to an effective judicial review related to compliance with the material conditions in Annex 1 of the recast APD.

• In order for judicial protection to be effective, both the applicant and the court or tribunal must be able to have sufficient and adequate access to the sources of information on the basis of which the third country in question was designated as a safe country of origin.

• The national court or tribunal may take into account information which it collected itself, provided that the information is reliable and the adversarial principle is observed.