The European Commission is willing to
allow member States to design a non-EU country as safe for
repatriation even if the safety of certain categories of people
is not guaranteed, an attorney representing the EU executive
said Tuesday during a hearing at the European Court of Justice
(ECJ) on Italian legal cases regarding the protocol between
Italy and Albania.
"The European Commission is willing to accept for the directive
2013/32" regulating asylum procedures "to allow member States to
design as safe Countries of origin" also "providing for
exceptions for categories of people", said the attorney, Flavia
Tomat.
The cases concern the fast-track processing of asylum seekers at
Italian-run centres in Albania under a protocol signed by Rome
and Tirana and the definition of safe countries for
repatriation.
The attorney highlighted that current legislation does not
prevent "to design a Country of origin as safe when security is
not guaranteed" in total "for specific categories of people",
adding however that these groups must be "easily identifiable".
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is
set to present on April 10 the conclusions of the joint legal
cases regarding the protocol between Italy and Albania, ANSA has
learned.
Judges at the Luxembourg-based court are then set to decide the
case within the following month. A sentence is expected between
the end of May and the beginning of June.
Italian judges have so far refused to validate the detention of
the first three groups of asylum seekers taken to Albania back
in October and November as well as last month, referring their
cases to the European Court of Justice - which had established
on October 4 that an applicant could not go through a fast-track
procedure that could lead to their repatriation if their country
of provenance was not deemed wholly safe.
The countries of origin in the cases, Bangladesh and Egypt, were
not judged to be wholly safe across their territory and for all
categories of citizens.
The government has tried to get around this hurdle with a
measure listing 19 safe countries for repatriation.
They included both Bangladesh and Egypt.
However, after the decree was approved in December, Italian
juddges have asked the ECJ which parameter should be used when
determining safety and whether the principle of the primacy of
EU law should prevail if a conflict arises with Italian
legislation.
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