EU ministers have approved French proposals for a common policy to reform immigration rules across the union.
Under the plan, countries would pledge to expel more illegal migrants, while promoting legal migration and a common asylum policy by 2010.
The French EU Presidency hopes the proposals will be formally adopted at a leaders' summit in October.
The Irish Government supports the plan in principle, but may opt out of many of its elements along with Britain.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said that Ireland was 'favourably disposed' to the French proposals.
Spain said it was happy with changes to the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum discussed by ministers from the 27 EU states in Cannes, having previously expressed concern about proposals to ban mass legalisations of migrants.
France has made harmonising the bloc's immigration policy a priority of its six-month EU presidency that began this month.
French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux told a news conference yesterday that the pact received unanimous backing.
He called it an 'historic afternoon' and said the pact would offer a 'coherent, balanced and fair immigration policy'.
'Europe will not be a fortress, neither will it be a sieve letting through everything ... it will be able to organise its legal immigration and put a halt to illegal immigration,' Mr Hortefeux added.
The minister has said concerns about immigration were one reason Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty last month.
The European Commission estimates there are up to 8m illegal migrants in the bloc. More than 200,000 were arrested in the first half of 2007, and fewer than 90,000 were expelled.
