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MEPs to discuss permanent relocation scheme and EU list of safe third countries

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AP428963175563Two legislative proposals to tackle the migration and refugee crisis, one on a permanent crisis relocation mechanism among member states and another on an EU common list of safe countries of origin, will be debated by the lead Civil Liberties Committee with the EU Commission, Council of Ministers, European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on Tuesday afternoon (1 December).

These two proposals, presented by the European Commission on 9 September 2015, will be negotiated by Parliament and Council on an equal footing, under the co-decision procedure.

The Civil Liberties Committee will debate the permanent relocation mechanism on Tuesday, from 16.15 to 17.15. The Commission will present its proposal to MEPs and the Council will present the state of play in discussions among member states. The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) will also present the "State of play of relocation operations in the hot spots".

From 17h30 to 18h30, the EU common list of safe countries of origin will also be discussed with the Commission and Council. The EASO will present "The situation in the Western Balkans and the results of consultation with Member States on Safe Country of Origin", and the FRA will present "Safe country of origin (SCO) lists: fundamental rights considerations".

The Civil Liberties Committee rapporteur on a permanent relocation mechanism is Timothy Kirkhope (ECR, UK), and its rapporteur on a EU common list of safe countries of origin is Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, FR).

You can follow the debates on EP Live.

A permanent relocation mechanism for all member states

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As announced in the European Agenda on Migration, the Commission is proposing a permanent relocation mechanism which could be triggered any time by the Commission to help any EU member state experiencing an “emergency situation” and extreme pressure on its asylum system as a result of a large and disproportionate inflow of third country nationals.

Such "emergency situations" would be defined by the Commission based on the ratio of asylum applications to the receiving country’s population size and the number of irregular border crossings in the previous six months. The same aim and "distribution criteria" will apply as for the emergency relocation proposals already approved in September.

A common European list of safe countries of origin

The proposed EU common list of safe countries of origin would allow swifter processing of individual asylum applications by migrants originating from countries that the EU deems “safe”, and for faster returns if individual assessments of their applications show that they have no right of asylum.

In its proposal, the Commission says that Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey should be included to the EU list of safe countries of origin.

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