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The German federal government is set to adopt a draft law granting it the authority to determine the list of safe countries, on June 4, with the list of safe countries reportedly including Morocco.
Led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) coalition, this new law would allow the government to bypass the upper house of the federal parliament, the Bundesrat, where several attempts to expand the list of safe countries have mostly failed.
The law will allow the German federal government to tighten its migration policy, beginning with stricter controls on asylum applications. By granting the executive branch the authority to unilaterally designate “safe countries of origin,” the law paves the way for faster rejections of asylum claims from nationals of those countries, reduced appeal options, and more rapid deportations.
This approach marks a shift toward policies focused on deterrence, emphasizing faster processing and stronger border control over thorough, individual assessments of asylum claims — thus raising concerns about whether the right to seek protection is being fully upheld.
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Earlier in March, the “Interior, Law, Migration, and Integration” committee of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, stated in its official report that the federal government would begin implementing “pushbacks at shared borders,” including for asylum seekers.
This refers to the practice of forcibly turning away individuals at the border—often without allowing them to file for asylum or undergo individual case assessments. In Germany’s case, “shared borders” typically refer to crossings with neighboring EU countries like Austria, Poland, or France.
Such pushbacks are widely criticized by human rights organizations as violations of international refugee law, particularly the 1951 Refugee Convention, which protects the right to seek asylum and prohibits the return of individuals to places where they may face danger.
As of now, Germany’s official list of safe countries includes all EU member states, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ghana, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Senegal and Serbia.
In addition to Morocco, Germany is considering expanding this list to include Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria, India and Mongolia.
Under the proposed law, the government would no longer require approval from the Bundesrat to implement these changes, drastically speeding up the process and centralizing power within the executive branch.
Critics argue that this move could lead to rushed decisions and further erode the legal protections designed to safeguard those fleeing persecution or conflict.
While specific figures for Moroccan asylum seekers are not prominently featured in the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) public reports, data from 2018 indicated that there were 76,200 Moroccan nationals residing in Germany without German citizenship, with 505 individuals granted asylum status at that time.
