BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (KUNA) -- The European Parliament on Tuesday definitively adopted a package of key legislative texts aimed at tightening migration and asylum policy in the European Union, as part of broad reforms of EU asylum law, amid sharp political divisions between supporters and opponents.
MEPs voted in favor of amendments to EU asylum procedure regulations to enable faster processing of asylum requests, with 408 lawmakers backing the creation of a unified EU list of safe countries of origin, against 184 and 60 abstentions.
Parliament also approved, by 396 votes to 226 with 30 abstentions, the agreement on applying the "safe third country" concept, allowing EU states to reject asylum applications as inadmissible if applicants can obtain effective protection in a third country deemed safe.
Under the new rules, a unified EU list of safe countries of origin will be adopted, including Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia, to speed up the processing of asylum claims by their nationals.
The amendments place the burden of proof on asylum seekers to demonstrate that their personal situation should be exempted from this classification in cases of a well-founded fear of persecution or risk of serious harm if returned to their country. EU accession candidate countries will also be considered safe.
The adopted text allows EU states to apply the safe third country concept where clear links exist between the applicant and the third country, where the applicant transited through it and could have sought protection there, or where agreements exist with that country to receive asylum seekers, excluding unaccompanied minors.
Parliament said some provisions may be applied early before the new EU asylum legislation fully enters into force in June 2026, including the designation of third countries as safe at EU and national levels, as well as accelerated border procedures for applicants whose asylum recognition rate is below 20 percent.
The legislation comes as irregular entries into the EU fell by around 25 percent in 2025 compared to 2024, while nearly one million people applied for asylum last year, about 440,000 of whom were granted protection. (end) arn.ibi