EU court to rule on Italy’s country list for faster asylum procedures

The European Union’s top court is to rule on Friday on a list issued by Italy of countries labelled as safe enough for asylum seekers to be returned there.

The list is part of an effort by the right-wing government in Rome to speed up the vetting of asylum requests and to allow fewer people to enter Italy.

The Italian government aims to bring migrants hailing from countries designated as safe and intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea to a reception centre in Albania where their asylum requests are examined under an accelerated procedure.

Two Bangladeshi nationals challenged the rejection of their requests for international protection based on the assumption that Bangladesh is a safe country as per the list.

The Italian court dealing with the matter called on the European Court of Justice to clarify if the Italian government was allowed to compile the list of safe countries under EU law, if Rome has to unveil its sources for declaring a country as safe and what criteria have to be respected.

With right-wing positions gaining popularity across the 27-member bloc, many EU countries are adapting a tougher stance on migration.

Several capitals are discussing setting up accommodation centres for rejected asylum seekers in countries outside the EU. Italy’s push to process protection requests and accommodate rejected migrants in Albania is however facing several legal obstacles.