Italy, Spain, Portugal say migrant plan needs study

Italy, Portugal and Spain said on Saturday Germany's controversial proposal to stop illegal immigrants from reaching the EU by keeping them in holding centres in North Africa needed more study.

France, also present at a four-way meeting of foreign ministers in Rome, repeated its highly sceptical view of Berlin's proposal for centres to process the immigrants outside EU borders.

But the other three countries appeared more open to the idea.

"We are just at the start of this debate," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a news conference.

"I think we have to fully evaluate all the implications of that proposal. We must first determine the social implications, the respect of the dignity of the people," he said.

The Spanish and Portuguese foreign ministers, Miguel Angel Moratinos and Antonio Monteiro, both said that the door could not yet be closed on the proposal and that more study of development issues was needed.

Italy has much to gain if the flow of immigration can be managed and has already given qualified backing to the proposal by German Interior Minister Otto Schily.

Hundreds of illegal immigrants seeking a better life reach southern Italian shores every week. Most of them try to reach northern Europe and are at the mercy of human traffickers.

Mr Frattini said the establishment of holding centres could be linked to helping development in countries of origin.

"What we talked about today was how to bring help to countries of origin, even more than to the countries of transit," he said.

"Because if we create transit camps in transit countries and we don't tackle the problems of the countries of origin, we have resolved absolutely nothing," he said.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was explicit in outlining his country's grim view of the centres, saying they raised many human rights questions.

France questions the financing of the plans, whether they would respect human rights and has raised the prospect of the centres attracting human traffickers, who make thousands of dollars smuggling people into Europe.

Mr Schily set out proposals to the EU at a meeting on Friday in Scheveningen, the Netherlands.

He said the 25-nation bloc had to face the emergency of illegal immigrants risking their lives every day to get to Europe from North Africa in small, unseaworthy boats.

Human rights groups have also expressed concerns over whether the centres could adequately protect refugees.

Sweden is opposed to the proposal and has urged the EU to look at ways to address the root causes of illegal immigration.

In 2003, Britain was forced to drop similar proposals to set up asylum centres outside the EU after pressure from Sweden and France, which argued they were in breach of international law. The European Parliament also rejected the plans.