EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers

The EU unveiled plans Tuesday to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries in the latest overhaul aimed at reducing migration to the bloc, sparking criticism from rights groups.

The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called "safe third country" concept, which allows member states to "consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection" elsewhere.

"EU countries have been under significant migratory pressure for the past decade," said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as "another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way".

Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fuelled hard-right electoral gains in several member states.

Under current rules, asylum seekers can have their application rejected if they could have filed it in a "safe" third country where they have "a genuine connection".

This is normally understood to mean a nation where the applicant has lived and worked, or has family.

The commission proposal weakens such requirements to include any country that an asylum seeker has transited through on the way to Europe, as long as it is considered safe. This opens the way for failed applicants to be sent there.

The planned reform also says the safe third country concept can be applied in absence of any connection or transit if there is a deal between member states and a third "safe nation", and removes the suspensive effect of appeals.

The change would significantly boost the number of those who could see their applications refused and become eligible for deportation, as many cross numerous borders on their way to Europe.

In April for example, of almost 20,000 people who reached Europe via sea from northern Africa, many came from as far away as Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria, according to the EU's border agency.

The move comes after EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns, and for the commission to assess "innovative" ways to counter irregular migration.

In response, Brussels in March unveiled a planned reform of the 27-nation bloc's return system, which opened the way for states to set up migrant return centres outside the EU.

And in April it published a list of countries of "origin" it considers "safe", making it harder for citizens of those nations to claim asylum by introducing a presumption that such applications lack merit.

Featured on that list are Morocco and Tunisia, among the main points of departure for migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean by boat.