EU lists seven 'safe' countries of origin, tightening asylum rules

The European Union on Wednesday published a list of seven countries it considers "safe", in a bid to speed up migrant returns by making it harder for citizens of those nations to claim asylum in the bloc.

The European Commission said it was proposing to designate Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia as "safe countries of origin".

The move is set to allow EU governments to process asylum applications filed from citizens of those countries more quickly -- by introducing a presumption that such applications lack merit.

"Many member states are facing a significant backlog of asylum applications, so anything we can do now to support faster asylum decisions is essential," said Magnus Brunner, the EU's commissioner for migration.

EU candidate countries would also in principle meet the criteria to be designated as safe countries, exceptions being when they are hit by a conflict, the commission said.

The EU had already presented a similar list in 2015 but the plan was abandoned due to heated debates over whether or not to include Turkey.

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

Led by hawks including Sweden, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, 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, last month the commission unveiled a planned reform of the 27-nation bloc's return system, which opened the way for member states to set up migrant return centres outside the EU.

Currently less than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.