SEVILLE (Spain), June 22: European Union leaders on Saturday dropped planned aid sanctions on countries failing to curb illegal immigration, opting instead for toughened border controls and negotiation of readmission pacts with foreign governments.

A summit statement said future EU agreements with developing countries would have to include a clause on “joint management of clandestine migration flows”.

Countries which refused to cooperate with the EU would find it difficult to forge “closer relations” with the 15-nation bloc, European leaders warned.

Spanish Prime Minister, summit host Jose Maria Aznar, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and Britain’s Tony Blair, who came up with the controversial aid-immigration link in the first place, were forced to abandon their hardline anti-immigrant line after France and Sweden rejected retaliation against poor labour-exporting nations.

French President Jacques Chirac praised the decision to focus on incentives rather than sanctions in fighting illegal immigration into Europe.

“We can only resolve this problem through dialogue and cooperation,” he said.

The summit declaration therefore pledged greater efforts by the Union to “tackle the root causes of migration flows”, insisting that this would involve aid, trade and a bigger EU role in conflict prevention.

EU leaders for the first time referred to the “legitimate aspiration to a better life” of immigrants, but said this had to be “reconcilable with the reception capacity of the Union”.

Welcoming the toning down of Europe’s anti-foreigner rhetoric, analysts said EU leaders had preserved Seville’s historic reputation as a crossroads for Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures.

The EU climbdown on aid sanctions also reflected a European Commission opinion poll which, to the surprise of some, showed far less fear over immigration than some leaders had assumed following the recent electoral successes of Europe’s far-right.

The “Eurobarometer” survey revealed only 14 per cent of those polled were “intolerant” of immigrants, with 21 per cent “actively tolerant” of foreigners and 40 per cent “passively tolerant”.