In its judgment no. 34898/2024, delivered on 30 December 2024, the italian Supreme Court decided to suspend the proceedings concerning the possibility for States to designate a country of origin as safe with exceptions for certain categories of persons.
The Court considered it appropriate to postpone the case pending the decision of the Court of Justice on the preliminary ruling requested in the joined cases C-758/24 and C-759/24, Alace and Canpelli. However, the Court made some observations regarding the possible interpretation of the relevant legal framework.
First, it expressed the view that the judgment of the Court of Justice of 4 October 2024 (case C-406/22, Ministerstvo vnitra České republiky, Odbor azylové a migrační politi) refers exclusively to the incompatibility of designating parts of a territory as safe countries with exceptions. Consequently, it held that the decision cannot be automatically and broadly applied to cases involving the designation of countries as safe with exceptions based on categories of persons. Thus, according to the Court, the designation of a third country as a safe country of origin may, within certain limits, involve personal exceptions. In particular, personal exceptions cannot be considered admissible in a state of widespread, endemic, and consistent persecutions, which, in substance, contradicts the fundamental condition for assessing a particular country of origin as safe.