ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ: ΕΞΕΛΙΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΕΔΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

98 The expansion of the concept of “safe third country” Under the Directive, the “safe third country” notion operates on the basis that a state is entitled to reject responsibility for the claim of an asylum seeker who could have obtained protection in another country. 4 Similar to the “first country of asylum” concept, which refers to cases where persons have already obtained protection in another country, 5 “safe third country” therefore constitutes an ad- missibility filter, barring asylum seekers from a full examination of the merits of their application. 6 The effect of this concept is to shift administrative resources of national asylum systems “from substantive protection enquiries to distribution- related ones; focus is placed on ‘where’ rather than ‘who’ gets protection.” 7 The aftermath of the EU’s self-proclaimed “refugee crisis” of 2015-2016 has brought about plans for an overhaul of the legal framework of the Common Eu- ropean Asylum System (CEAS) with the intention to “end irregular and dangerous movements and the business model of smugglers”. 8 A large-scale reform process was triggered by the submission of seven asylum-related legislative proposals by the European Commission in May and July 2016. While progress in deliberations has been marked with respect to several proposals at the time of writing, 9 thorni- er questions surround two files in particular: the revision of the Dublin system for the allocation of responsibility between Member States, 10 and the transformation of the recast Asylum Procedures Directive into a more prescriptive and harmonised Asylum Procedures Regulation. 11 4. Article 38 recast Asylum Procedures Directive. 5. Article 35 recast Asylum Procedures Directive. 6. Article 33(2)(c) recast Asylum Procedures Directive. 7. AIDA, Admissibility, responsibility and safety in European asylum procedures , Septem- ber 2016, available at: http://www.asylumineurope.org/sites/default/files/shadow-re- ports/admissibility_responsibility_and_safety_in_european_asylum_procedures.pdf, 6. 8. European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or stateless person (recast) (hereafter “Proposal for a Dublin IV Regulation”, COM(2016) 270, 4 May 2016, Explanatory Memorandum, 2. 9. For an overview of progress on intra- and interinstitutional negotiations between Council and European Parliament, see European Commission, Commission contribution to the EU Leaders’ thematic debate on a way forward on the external and internal dimension of migration policy , COM(2017) 820, 7 December 2017, 11. 10. European Commission, Proposal for a Dublin IV Regulation , COM(2016) 270, 4 May 2016. 11. European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU (hereafter “Proposal for an Asylum Procedures Regulation”), COM(2016) 467, 13 July 2016.