third country to respond to readmission requests, necessitate adherence to Article 38(4). These obligations are particularly relevant in light of Türkiye's continued non-admission of applicants since 2020, requiring Member States to safeguard procedural access to the examination of such claims. 836 Civil society organisations have urged Greece to repeal its national list of safe third countries, disclose opinions on these designations, and cease inadmissibility decisions based on the concept. The Commission has previously called on Greece to ensure compliance with Article 38(4) to avoid legal limbo for applicants.837 The Greek Ombudsperson has criticised the cyclical inadmissibility reviews, which fail to examine applications on their merits, undermining refugee protection standards. 838 While internal SOPs of the Asylum Service introduced in 2021 allowed merit-based examination for applicants in Greece for over a year, inconsistent application of these rules has left many, particularly Syrians, Afghans, and Somalis, in ongoing procedural uncertainty. On 7 October 2021, GCR and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) filed a judicial review before the Greek Council of State for the annulment of the JMD 42799/03.06.2021 designating Türkiye as a safe third country for nationals of Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 839 On 4 March 2022, requests for the continuation of the hearing were filed before the Council of State for the annulment of the subsequent JMD, 458568/15.12.2021 of the Minister of Migration and Asylum and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The application for annulment was examined before the Plenary of the Council of State on 11 March 2022. On 3 February 2023, the Plenary of the Council of State (CoS) issued its decision No. 177/2023,840 which postpones the final judgment and referred the following questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling, given there were reasonable doubts as to the meaning of Article 38 of the Directive: a) Must Article 38 of the Asylum Procedures Directive, read in conjunction with Article 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, be interpreted as precluding national legislation, designating a third country as generally safe for certain categories of applicants for international protection, which has undertaken the legal obligation to readmit those categories of applicants to its territory, but it follows that for a long time (in case more than twenty months) this country has refused readmissions and that the possibility to change the country’s attitude in the near future does not appear to have been explored? Or, b) Must this Article be interpreted as meaning that readmission to the third country is not a cumulative condition for the adoption of the national act designating a third country as safe for these categories of applicants, but it is a cumulative condition for the adoption of an individual act rejecting a specific application for international protection as inadmissible on the ground of ‘safe third country’? Or, c) Must Article 38 be interpreted as meaning that the possibility of readmission to the ‘safe third country’ must be established only at the time of enforcement of the decision, where that decision to reject the application for international protection is based on the ‘safe third country’ ground?841 On Friday 4 October 2024 the CJEU (C-134/2023) in line with the Advocate’s General Opinion, ruled that: 836 837 838 839 840 841 European Commission, Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, Ref.Ares(2021)7836311, 17 December 2021, no longer available online. Letter to the Director of the Asylum Service by co-signing civil society organisations, European Commission dispels Greece’s designation of Türkiye as a ‘safe third country’ for refugees – Repeal the national list of safe third countries, Ref. no: β/72/27.10.2022, 27 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/40Lhq5J. RSA, Greece arbitrarily deems Türkiye a ‘safe third country’ in flagrant violation of rights, February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3iIFsen, p. 5; Ombudsperson, Letters 301551/41050/2021 and 301755/41017/2021, 22 July 2021. GCR, Decision declaring Türkiye a ‘safe third country’ brought before Greek Council of State, 7 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3iLkeMJ. Plenary of the Council of State, 177/2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/426WSpv. See also RSA, Key points of the Greek Council of State ruling on the ‘safe third country’ concept’, 17 February 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3FB91KC. European Legal Network on Asylum (ELENA), Greece: Preliminary reference regarding Türkiye as a safe third country, 3 February 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3LhmQzH. 180