In the hope of speeding up the return of illegal migrants, the EU publishes a list of safe countries / day

The European Commission (EC) has proposed to recognize Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia on safe countries of origin. Such a step will allow EU countries to handle refuge requests from citizens of these countries faster, assuming that such requests lack justification.

« Many Member States are facing a significant number of unexplored asylum requests, so everything we can do to support faster decisions in asylum is very important, » said Magnus Bruners, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration.

The EU candidate countries also meet the criteria in principle to be recognized as safe countries, unless they are affected by the conflict, the EC stated.

The EU came up with a similar list in 2015, but this plan was abandoned as there was a hot debate on whether to include Turkey on this list.

Under the leadership of Sweden, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, EU leaders in October called for new legal norms to accelerate and increase the return of illegal immigrants to countries of origin. The EC was also invited to look for new innovative ways to fight illegal immigration.

In response to this call, the EC last month came forward with suggestions on how to reform the migrant return system, opening up the possibility for Member States to set up illegal immigrant placement centers outside the EU.

Currently, under EU data, less than 20% of people who have been issued to leave the block are sent back to their country of origin.