The European Court of Justice has handed down a case reminding EU member states that they can only designate whole countries, not parts of countries, as safe:

The Court of Justice specifies the conditions for the designation by a Member State of third countries as safe countries of origin under the directive on common procedures for international protection. It considers that the fact that a third country derogates from the obligations under the ECHR does not preclude it from being designated as such. The authorities of the Member States must, however, assess whether the conditions for implementing the right to derogate are capable of calling that designation into question. Furthermore, the Court holds that EU law precludes a Member State from designating a third country as a safe country of origin for only part of its territory. In addition, the national court called upon to verify the lawfulness of an administrative decision on international protection must raise of its own motion, as part of its full examination, a failure to take account of the rules of EU law relating to the designation of safe countries of origin.

That quote is from the press release. The full judgment is available in Czech and French only as Case C-406/22 Ministerstvo vnitra České republiky, Odbor azylové a migrační politiky.

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