Tightening asylum law by updating the regulations for safe third countries

The EU Parliament has voted to tighten EU asylum law, expanding the application of the “safe third country” concept. In the future, member states will be able to reject an asylum application as inadmissible if a non-EU country is considered a safe third country for the person applying. This should be possible in three cases: if there is a connection to the third country (e.g. through residence, family or cultural ties), if the person traveled through a safe third country on the way to the EU or if there is an agreement between the EU, a member state and the third country on the reception of asylum seekers. However, application remains voluntary and at the discretion of Member States. Unaccompanied minors are generally exempt from the application of third country regulations, but in security cases special rules that have already been decided continue to apply. In addition, asylum seekers should no longer have an automatic right to remain in the EU state as long as a decision is made on a complaint against an inadmissibility decision. Attention: The voting results shown on the right only reflect the voting behavior of the 96 German MEPs and not that of all 720 MEPs. The proposal for a regulation was adopted overall with 383 votes in favour, 238 against and 31 abstentions. The vote was supported by a right-of-center majority, while the Greens, Left and Social Democrats in particular voted against it. Of the German MEPs, 52 MEPs voted for and 31 against. There were five abstentions from members of the FDP. Before the new rules come into force, they must be formally adopted by Parliament and the Council. Parliament also voted in a roll-call vote in favor of expanding an EU-wide list of safe countries of origin in order to speed up asylum procedures. Among other things, it is planned to classify other countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Kosovo, Colombia, India and Bangladesh, as well as EU candidate countries as safe.

Vote breakdown