protection as inadmissible under the concept of “safe third country” or only at the time of the execution of that decision. The preliminary questions were discussed in an oral hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 14 March 2024.533 On 4 October 2024, the CJEU, in line with the Advocate’s General Opinion,534 ruled that Member States cannot issue a decision rejecting an asylum application as inadmissible on the basis of the "safe third country" concept in cases where they have established that the asylum seeker will not be allowed to enter the territory of the country designated as safe. The Court accepted, however, that a country may be listed as a safe third country even if, despite its legal obligation, that third country has, in general and without any prospect of a contrary development, suspended the admission or readmission of those applicants to its territory. In its judgment, the CJEU held, in the context of examining the first question, that: ❖ Article 38 of Directive 2013/32/EU does not preclude the legislation of a Member State from designating a third country as generally safe for certain categories of applicants for international protection, even if that third country has suspended, in general terms and without any prospect of a contrary development, the admission or readmission of those applicants to its territory. ❖ Member States may not, however, issue a decision rejecting an application for asylum as inadmissible on the basis of the 'safe third country' concept where they have established that the applicant will not be allowed to enter the territory of the country designated as safe. Therefore, the decision on the existence or not of the possibility of readmission to the third country, in this case Türkiye, becomes a prerequisite at the stage of issuing the decision on the asylum application and not at the stage of its execution, as has been the practice followed to date by the Asylum Service, and in most cases the Independent Appeals Committees. It should be noted that these decisions of the national authorities, based on the Proposals of the same Advocate General in Cases C 924/19 PPU and C 925/19 PPU, overwhelmingly interpreted, incorrectly, that the condition of effective or not readmission to the third country is reviewed not at the stage of issuance, but at the stage of execution of the decision declaring an application for international protection as inadmissible on the basis of the safe third country clause. It should be recalled that the majority of the Plenary of the CoS, in the above-mentioned judgment, interpreted Article 38 of the Directive, taking into account the provision of Article 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which safeguards the right to asylum, in a way that serves the purpose pursued by the Directive. The CJEU's judgment is of major importance because it overturned the practice followed by the Greek authorities for many years – i.e. indiscriminate rejection of asylum applications as inadmissible under the safe third country concept – and put an end to the denial of the rights of thousands of applicants, by prohibiting their rejection when there is no possibility of their readmission to the ‘safe third country’, in this case, Türkiye.535 Despite this lack of return prospect, many RAOs continued to issue inadmissibility decisions based on the existence of a link with Türkiye, disregarding the practical impossibility of returning applicants there.536 The JMD 42799 of 3 June 2021 declaring Türkiye as a safe third country was amended by Decision No. 458568/2021 (FEK 5949/16-12-2021) to include Albania and Northern Macedonia as safe third countries for all nationals entering Greece from the countries listed. 537 In December 2022, JMD 734214/6-12-2022 was issued, confirming the continuity and full validity of the amended JMD 538 Respectively, in December 533 534 535 536 537 538 GCR & RSA, Hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday 14 March on the preliminary questions of the Greek Council of State regarding Turkey as a "safe third country", 13 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/8jwbaccz. See also ECRE, Newsletter, “Greece: […] ― CJEU Hearing on Designation of Türkiye as a “Safe Third Country”, 15 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/5n8b2etb CJEU, Case C‑134/23, Advocate’s General Opinion, 13 June 2024, available here. See the CJEU’s judgment in case C-134/23, available here. Greek Council of Refugees, News from the field - The serious dysfunction of the Asylum Service & the reception system continues, November 2024, available here FEK 5949/16-12-2021, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/5dauc7e8. JMD 734214/6-12-2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3TMbGY3. 114