Wolfgang Schäuble implicitly criticized Frattini's plans for a Blue Card by insisting that immigration should remain a competence of individual member states.

EU Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini said there had been a "broad consensus" on the benefits of granting work and residency permits to third-country professionals, given labor shortages and Europe's graying population.

And the justice, interior, employment and social policy ministers also agreed with the EU executive on the necessity of cracking down on undeclared workers, many of them exploited illegal immigrants.

Portugal, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said the so-called "jumbo council" aimed to produce a wide-ranging debate on this highly sensitive issue.

Differing national priorities

And ministers also stressed different priorities and expressed diverging views on the issue. Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece, for instance, emphasized the need to stop thousands of illegal migrants from North Africa and Asia. While the Czech Republic and Bulgaria said their workers should be given priority.

Frattini has proposed increasing the EU's attractivity to third- country professionals by offering them similar benefits to those currently enjoyed by their European colleagues.

Candidates would be able to apply for a single work and residency permit, valid for a minimum of two years and renewable, and accepted throughout the union. Under the proposal, foreign white-collar workers would also be allowed to be joined by their families in their new country of residency.

Germany's main concern is that the EU might eventually impose quotas on the number of immigrants who can enter individual member states, an eventuality strongly denied by Frattini.

"It is not up to Brussels to decide how many engineers from third countries are necessary for Germany or Austria," Frattini said.

Observers in Brussels said Germany could eventually decide not to adopt the Blue Card, rather than block the project altogether.

The Dutch also voiced doubts

The Netherlands also expressed reservations over the proposal while Austria called for further "clarifications" in the field of social security and minimum wages, saying it already offered higher levels.

Britain, which has opted out of EU immigration policies altogether, outlined to ministers its alternative plan for a points- based system. Devised along the lines of a similar system in place in Australia, it aims to ensure that only those migrants meeting the needs of the country would be allowed to enter and work.

The British proposal nevertheless reflects a more general shift towards a "pick and choose" approach to migration that is likely to adversely affect the future of lower-skilled third-country nationals seeking a better life in Europe.

Some 2 million third-country nationals enter the bloc each year, according to EU estimates, and there is little evidence to suggest this figure will drop significantly in the foreseeable future.

The inflow has been at times poorly managed fuelling growing resentment among ordinary citizens, opposition from nationalist parties and calls for stricter controls by government officials.