The first-ever EU list of safe countries of origin would include Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as all EU candidate countries, which are currently Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine.

However, EU candidate countries would be excluded from the list in certain circumstances, namely indiscriminate violence in conflict situations, EU sanctions against that country, or an EU-wide recognition rate of asylum applicants higher than 20 per cent.

Ireland is among EU member states that already have a national list of safe countries of origin, which differs significantly from that proposed by the EU.

The European Commission says an EU list will “complement” existing national lists and support a “more uniform application of the concept”.

Magnus Brunner, EU commissioner for internal affairs and migration, said: “We have a little over a year before the Pact on Migration and Asylum enters into full application but where we can go faster, we should go faster.

“Many member states are facing a significant backlog of asylum applications, so anything we can do now to support faster asylum decisions is essential.

“The Pact provisions on recognition rates and applying the safe country of origin concept can help member states deal with claims more quickly, whilst always ensuring that every asylum claim still receives an individual assessment and is subject to the scrutiny of national courts.”

The Commission’s proposal will now be presented to the European Parliament and Council.