The European Union (EU) on Wednesday published a list of seven countries it considers "safe," in a bid to speed up migrant returns by making it harder for citizens of those nations to claim asylum in the bloc, AFP reports.

The European Commission said it was proposing to designate Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco, and Tunisia as "safe countries of origin."

The move, criticized by rights groups, is set to allow EU governments to process asylum applications filed from citizens of those countries more quickly – by introducing a presumption that such claims lack merit.

“Many member states are facing a significant backlog of asylum applications, so anything we can do now to support faster asylum decisions is essential," said Magnus Brunner, the EU's commissioner for migration.

On Wednesday, the commission said EU candidate nations would also in principle meet the criteria to be designated as safe countries. But it also laid out exceptions, including when they are hit by a conflict—something that would for example exclude Ukraine.

The EU had already presented a similar list in 2015, but the plan was abandoned due to heated debates over whether or not to include Turkey, another candidate for membership.

Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on irregular arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fuelled hard-right electoral gains in several countries.

EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns and for the commission to assess "innovative" ways to counter irregular migration.

In response, last month the European Commission unveiled a planned reform of the 27-nation bloc's return system, which opened the way for member states to set up migrant return centers outside the EU.

Currently less than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.