The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU has prepared an initial compromise on the draft common list of safe countries of origin (SCO), which will be discussed in a working group on 10 June (see EUROPE 13623/1).
This first text does not change the list of proposed countries, namely, in addition to all the EU candidate countries (with the logical temporary exception of Ukraine), Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Colombia, Bangladesh, Kosovo (its status as an EU candidate has not yet been officially approved) and India.
It essentially clarifies wording. The Polish Presidency therefore suggests adding a recital specifying that the list in Annex II “does not imply that other third countries cannot be classified as safe countries of origin and that the scope of the list may change over time”, as the Commission has already proposed.
The wording also covers the circumstances in which a third country may not be considered as a safe country of origin at EU level, “if one of or more of the following circumstances apply to them:(a) there is a serious threat to the lives and safety of civilians or persons by reason of indiscriminate violence or in situations of international or internal armed conflict in the country; (b) restrictive measures within the meaning of Title IV of Part Five of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union have been adopted in view of that third country’s actions affecting fundamental rights and freedoms and that are relevant for the criteria of designation of a third country as safe country of origin as set out in Article 61; (c) the proportion of decisions by the determining authority granting international protection to the applicants from the country - either its nationals or former habitual residents in case of stateless persons – is higher than 20% of the total number of decisions for that third country issued by the determining authority according to the latest available yearly data at EU level from Eurostat”.
The Commission’s text reads as follows: “(a) there is a serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict in the country; (b) restrictive measures within the meaning of Title IV of Part Five of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union have been adopted in view of the country’s actions; (c) the proportion of decisions by the determining authority granting international protection to the applicants from the country - either its nationals or former habitual residents in case of stateless persons – is higher than 20% according to the latest available yearly Union-wide average Eurostat data”.
This proposal is part of a package of legislation presented by the Commission, the most recent of which concerns a new definition of the concept of ‘safe third country’, also presented by the Commission on 10 June.
The regulation on ‘returns’ presented in March will be the subject of an initial compromise under the Danish Presidency, due to a lack of time under the Polish Presidency. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)