Opinion of Advocate General Ćapeta in the case Case C‑440/25 PM, QN, RM, SM, TM, UM, VM, WM v Minister van Asiel en Migratie [Ebilum]

In the light of the foregoing considerations, I propose that the Court answer the fifth question referred for a preliminary ruling by the rechtbank den Haag zittingsplaats Zwolle (District Court, The Hague, sitting in Zwolle, Netherlands) as follows:

Article 2(d) of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted

must be interpreted as meaning that a well-founded fear of persecution exists when there is a reasonable likelihood that an applicant for international protection will be persecuted if returned to his or her country of origin.

To assess whether there is such a reasonable likelihood, the determining authority must ask whether a person having the characteristics of the applicant, in the situation in which the applicant finds him or herself, and taking into consideration the relationship between applicant’s personal characteristics and the facts established in relation to the acts of persecution in his or her country of origin could reasonably fear that he or she would be persecuted if returned to that country.

Such an assessment must be performed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all available and relevant evidence submitted by the applicant concerned as well as any other information that the determining authority is able to obtain and use in order to support statements made by that applicant.