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. --More 2223 Local Time 1923 GMT
