Italy calls for EU-wide quotas to curb immigration

Plans for Europe-wide quotas for admission of immigrants are being pushed by Italy, which holds the EU presidency, in a drive to control the flow.

Rome has put the fight against illegal migration near the top of its agenda and says agreeing entry quotas with developing countries can help to secure their co-operation in fighting human trafficking.

The Italian government is also backing a European Commission proposal to co-ordinate policing of sea frontiers, which it hopes will pave the way for a common border police. Giuseppe Pisanu, the Interior Minister, said a bilateral deal between Rome and Sri Lanka, allowing in a limited number, had stopped the flow of illegal Sri Lankan migrants.

Italian officials plan to press ahead although, in negotiations over the EU's new draft constitution, Germany has insisted it must keep the national veto on immigration issues.

One option is that a group of nations could push ahead with a scheme if there is opposition from some of the 15 EU nations. The presidency is likely to win the support of the European Commission, which has long argued the EU faces a looming labour shortage because of its ageing population. Mr Pisanu said the "question of quotas is a national issue, but this should not prejudice the possibility of having a European system of quotas. I know this is a far-reaching objective but this should not stop us from studying it. We could start with a smaller group of countries."

Italy estimates 500,000 illegal immigrants arrive in Europe each year and Mr Pisanu said managing this flow through quotas would be to the advantage of European economies. "If we don't have an input of immigrants in the next few years we will have a decrease of the workforce."

The Italian presidency has already thrown its weight behind plans for Greece, Italy and Spain to co-ordinate policing of the Mediterranean sea frontier, which will be fleshed out this week. Mr Pisanu said the EU "should immediately pave the way to a common European [border] police in the future", and highlighted the difficulties that those countries joining the EU in future would encounter.

"If you look at a country like Bulgaria, we cannot believe they are capable of dealing with their border in the same way as Germany, so we should not leave them alone to tackle their borders." Rome is also stepping up contacts and striking agreements with Libya in the hope of persuading Tripoli to act against illegal trafficking. A deal that would have allowed Italian soldiers on Libyan soil came apart last month. But Italian officials made clear they were not backing Tony Blair's ideas for zones of protection for asylum-seekers to be set up in Africa, judging them too politically controversial.

Mr Pisanu said there was a need to increase anti-terrorism measures, and cited the two would-be suicide-bombers in Israel who held British passports. This had "shown European society can produce extremists and terrorists who can operate even outside European territory", Mr Pisanu said. He added: "Of every 100 Muslim immigrants only 5 per cent go to the mosque, the remaining 95 per cent are looking for bread and work. We need to make sure the 95 per cent are not in the hands of extremists."