Thessaloniki on immigration: more money but no external protection zones

Britain perceives the rejection of its plan to keep asylum seekers in protection zones outside the EU, strongly opposed by Germany, Sweden and the European Commission, as a setback for the EU's growing immigration and asylum problems.

British officials said that they will continue to work on their idea with other like-minded EU countries. Pilot protection zones for refugees could be set up outside Europe by "a coalition of the willing" Member States.

The leaders agreed to spend 140 million euro after 2006 on tightening border controls to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the Union's territory. Under the new spending plan, the EU will also introduce new technology for granting visas to non-EU visitors.

They also agreed on the harmonisation of policies on the readmission of illegal immigrants, which includes measures against states that fail to agree repatriation deals on illegal immigrants with the EU. Progress was made on the integration of immigrants and standardisation of EU passports.

The measures are aimed at stemming the flow of economic immigrants from unstable regions round the world and at combatting international terrorism.