The ECR Group considers today’s adoption of Parliament’s negotiating mandate on the EU list of safe countries of origin a necessary step to make Europe’s asylum system faster, more credible and more effective in practice.

Speaking after the adoption of the mandate, ECR Rapporteur Alessandro Ciriani said the Parliament’s position equips Member States with long-overdue tools to accelerate procedures where protection is unlikely, while fully preserving individual assessments and fundamental rights.

“A common EU list of safe countries of origin allows asylum procedures to be handled more swiftly and consistently, without removing the obligation to assess each case individually,” Ciriani said.

He underlined that the text strengthens legal clarity and enables the use of accelerated and border procedures where recognition rates are objectively low.

“This is about restoring credibility to the asylum system by focusing protection on those who genuinely need it, and ensuring faster decisions where the presumption of safety applies,” he said.

Ciriani also stressed the broader political significance of the mandate for the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

“The ECR has consistently argued that effective migration policy requires firm external border control, faster procedures and workable return mechanisms. Parliament’s mandate clearly moves the EU in that direction,” he said.

The ECR Group has supported a swift timetable on this file to ensure that Member States are equipped with effective tools well ahead of the full application of the Pact.