The European Commission welcomes the provisional political agreement reached today between the European Parliament and the Council on new rules that will facilitate Member States' application of the safe third country concept.
These will help Member States accelerate the processing of asylum applications, reduce pressure on asylum systems, and reduce incentives for illegal migration to the EU, while preserving the legal safeguards for applicants and ensuring respect of fundamental rights.
The safe third country concept allows Member States to consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection in a third country that is considered safe for them.
With the new rules, a connection between the applicant and the safe third county will no longer be mandatory. Member States will have more flexibility and be able to apply the safe third country concept if one of the following three criteria set in the Asylum Procedure Regulation is met:
- There is a connection between the asylum applicant and the safe third country;
- The asylum applicant transited through a safe third country before reaching the EU;
- where there is no connection or transit, there is an agreement or arrangement with the safe third country containing safeguards for the asylum seekers transferred there, notably the examination of the merits of the request for effective protection. This option will not apply to unaccompanied minors.
Strong safeguards remain in place. Under EU law, third countries can be considered safe only when their national systems can process applications and provide effective protection where needed, ensuring protection against refoulement and absence of risks of persecution, threat to life, or inhuman or degrading treatment.
In addition, to reduce procedural delays and prevent abuse, appeals against inadmissibility decisions based on the safe third country concept will no longer automatically allow the applicant to remain in the Member States pending the examination of the appeal, although a right to remain pending the appeal may be requested and the respect of the principle of non-refoulement will continue to be upheld.
Next steps
The regulation must now be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council before it enters into force, which will happen 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The new rules will apply as of June 2026.
Background
The review of the safe third country concept by 12 June 2025 was a requirement under the Asylum Procedure Regulation. The targeted amendments to the concept proposed by the Commission followed consultations with Member States, the European Parliament, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and civil society.
