IMMIGRANTS trying to enter the European Union from Africa would be housed in special asylum camps, possibly based in Libya or Tunisia, under controversial plans which are to be considered by the incoming European commission.

Rocco Buttiglione, the right-wing Italian politician who in November will become the EU’s justice and security commissioner, called last week for the establishment of such “reception centres” to weed out illegal immigrants before they reach European shores.

“They would be used to control ID and establish whether people would be legal or illegal immigrants,” Buttiglione said in an interview.

“Some people do not know how to come here legally and they could be given professional training. But the centres would also discourage those who do not qualify and they should be sent back to their countries of origin.”

Buttiglione, a close ally of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, said it was “absolutely clear” that the centres should be run by the north African countries themselves, but that EU countries would lend financial support.

Plans for the reception centres are expected to be tabled at a meeting of the British, Italian, Spanish, French and German justice ministers in Florence in October. Alessandro Pansa, head of Italy’s immigration police, is believed to have discussed the proposal during a visit last week to Libya, one of the most popular transit countries for refugees heading to Europe.

Domestic political pressure to tackle illegal immigration has been intensifying in Italy and Germany after the Cap Anamur, a ship run by a German aid agency, picked up 37 African refugees in June from an inflatable dinghy on its way to Europe.

The refugees claimed that they were from the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan, but the boat was barred from docking in Sicily and was chased back out to sea by Italian navy frigates.

Berlin refused to take any responsibility, even though the boat was sailing under a German flag. The passengers were later found to have come mostly from Ghana and Nigeria and were sent home.

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