EUROPEAN leaders will consider this week a plan to set Europe-wide quotas for legal immigration from African and Asian countries, if those countries agree to take back illegal immigrants.

The plan is being pushed by Italy, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency and believes that offering legal immigration quotas will make deportation of illegal immigrants easier.

“It’s a leverage for readmission agreements. We have to give something in exchange,” a spokesman for the European Commission in Brussels said.

European efforts to combat illegal immigration by deporting illegal immigrants have been hampered by many Third World countries refusing to take back their citizens.

The EU has been holding largely unsuccessful talks with those countries on “readmission agreements”. Humanitarian concerns scuppered an earlier plan to stop development aid to countries that refuse to take back illegal immigrants.

The European Commission is developing a plan under which a country will sign an agreement to take back illegal immigrants from the EU, and in return the EU will accept a quota of legal immigrants each year. That quota of legal immigrants will then be divided among member states according to factors such as labour market conditions and skills shortages. The size of the quotas has not yet been decided.

Italy already operates a similar scheme for immigrants from Albania and Tunisia, and claims that it has been successful in reducing illegal immigration.

However, the plan for a Europe-wide scheme is opposed by Germany, while Britain remains open-minded. A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are willing to consider anything that will help combat illegal immigration.”

At present, all member countries have a veto on immigration policy, but under the new constitution, which is still being negotiated, immigration would be decided by qualified majority voting. That would mean that the UK could be forced to accept the quotas even if it decides to oppose them.

The scheme would mark a change of direction for British immigration policy. At present, immigration is determined by skill level and family connections, not by national origin. Under this plan, the UK would be committed to accepting a set number of people from each participating country, such as Morocco and China.

The Commission has been holding talks with 11 countries on taking back illegal immigrants, but agreement has been reached only with Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, with a deal expected with Macau this week. It has been unsuccessfully pursuing agreements with, most notably, mainland China, Nigeria, Morocco and Algeria.

An agreement with Morocco is seen as particularly important, because the country is a transit route to Europe for illegal immigrants from further south in Africa. A spokesman for the Commission said: “The idea is to convince Morocco to readmit illegal immigrants even if they are not from Morocco.”

The European Commission started to develop the plans last month, and should complete them by the spring. However, they will be discussed by heads of state and prime ministers for the first time at the European Council meeting in Brussels at the end of this week.

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