(f) The applicant has a connection with that country, under which it would be reasonable for the applicant to move to it544. The transit of the applicant from a third country may, in combination with specific circumstances, in particular (a) the time of stay there, (b) any contact or objective and subjective possibility of contact with the authorities, for access to work or granting right of residence, (c) possible, prior to transit, residence such as long-term visits or studies, (d) existence of any, even distant, kinship, (e) existence of social or professional or cultural relations, (f) existence of property, (g) connection with a wider community; (h) knowledge of the language concerned; (i) geographical proximity of the country of origin, be considered as the applicant 's connection with the third country, on the basis of which it would be reasonable to move to it. The Asylum Code provides the possibility for the establishment of a list of safe third countries by way of Joint Ministerial Decision.545 On 7 June 2021, a Joint Ministerial Decision of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Migration and Asylum was issued, designating Türkiye as “safe third country” in a national list for asylum seekers originating from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia, without providing any legal reasoning.546 The aforementioned Joint Ministerial Decision was amended by a subsequent JMD under Article 86(3) IPA, previously in force, declaring Türkiye a safe third country for the said nationalities, again, without providing any legal reasoning.547 The abovementioned JMD designated Albania as a safe third country for the first time for people entering Greece from the Albanian-Greek borders, and North Macedonia as a safe third country for people entering the Greek territory from the borders between North Macedonia and Greece. 548 Subsequently, on 12 December 2022, a new JMD549 was issued pursuant to which JMD 42799/03.06.2021550, as amended by the JMD 458568/15.12.2021, upon review of the existing information (domestic legislative status of the third country, bilateral or multilateral inter-governmental agreements or agreements of the third country with the European Union, as well as internal practice) 551, remains in force.. It must be stressed that these JMDs provide no reasoning as to why and on the basis of which information Türkiye was designated as a safe third country for the five nationalities. Instead, they refer to “Opinions” of the Head of the Asylum Service, whichhave not been made public, in contravention of Articles 12(1)(d) and 38(2)(c) of the Asylum Procedures Directive and Articles 86(3) IPA, previously in force and 91(3) of the Asylum Code. According to Article 91(3) of the Asylum Code, the information (domestic legislative status of the third country, bilateral or multilateral inter-governmental agreements or agreements of the third country with the European Union, as well as internal practice)” taken into account for the adoption of a JMD designating a country as a “safe third country”, must be “up to date and come from credible sources of information, in particular from official domestic and foreign diplomatic sources, EASO, the legislation of the other Member States in relation to the concept of safe third countries, the Council of Europe, and UNHCR. The European Commission shall be informed of any decision designating a country as a safe third country. The European Commission has expressly stated that:552 ‘Article 12(1)(d) of Directive 2013/32/EU provides that such information, when taken into account by the deciding authority, should also be accessible to the applicant and his/her legal advisers. 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 In LH the CJEU examined the compatibility of said provision with Article 38(2) of the Recast Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU and ruled that ‘the transit of the applicant from a third country cannot constitute as such a valid ground in order to be considered that the applicant could reasonably return in this country’, C-564/18 (19 March 2020). Moreover, contrary to Article 38(2) of the Directive, national law does not foresee the methodology to be followed by the authorities in order to assess whether a country qualifies as a ‘safe third country’ for an individual applicant. Article 91(3) of the Asylum Code. JMD 42799/03.06.2021, Gov. Gazette 2425/Β/7-6-2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3zbSojR. JMD 458568/15.12.2021, Gov. Gazette 5949/B/16.12.2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3IQer3d. Ibid. JMD 734214/06.12.2022 (Gov. Gazette 6250/B/12-12-2022), available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/427H9GU. JMD 42799/03.06.2021 (Gov. Gazette 2425/Β/7-6-2021, as above. JMD 458568/15.12.2021, Gov. Gazette 5949/B/16.12.2021, as above. European Commission, Reply to parliamentary question E-3532/2021, 4 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3Q7dFTJ. 127