The vote at European Parliament in Strasbourg, France ratified a decision in December in Brussels when ministers across the EU agreed to a list of safe countries. The new rules would come into effect in June and allow for sending back not only asylum seekers from those countries, but also third-country nationals who only transited through those countries before reaching Europe.
Lawmakers from a spectrum of political viewpoints joined forces in two votes, with 408-to-184 in favor on the measure regarding safe countries of origin, and 396-to-226 on the measure regarding safe third countries.
“We are delivering another key building block for a functioning, credible asylum system,” said Lena Düpont, a German lawmaker from the European People's Party. "By enabling manifestly unfounded asylum applications to be rejected more quickly and efficiently in the future, we are speeding up asylum procedures, relieving the burden on member state systems, and helping people avoid being stuck in legal limbo for years.”
According to the new rules, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia would be considered “safe countries of origins." EU candidate countries would too, unless there are "relevant circumstances” like armed conflict, according to a parliamentary statement.
Authorities across the 27 EU nations will soon be able to deport people to — and slash asylum claims from — those countries.
