EU defends immigration rules after Mercosur criticism

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission defended Wednesday tough new rules to control illegal immigration, after the measures were slammed as "outrageous" by South American leaders.

"The directive shouldn't be reduced to a caricature," said EU justice affairs spokesman Michele Cercone. "You have to read it carefully and understand what it says."

The so-called "returns directive", which was given the greenlight last month, allows for illegal immigrants to be detained for up to 18 months, under specific conditions, while they are being processed for expulsion.

The measures do not oblige states to hold people for that long, indeed most should be held for no longer than six months.

Nine EU nations currently set no limits on how long people may be kept in custody and this will change once the legislation comes into force, probably in 2010.

People who resist expulsion could be banned from all of the EU's 27 member nations for five years.

"The directive finally introduces a European legislative framework that allows the commission to verify that humane and dignified conditions are respected" in detention centres, Cercone said.

At a regional trade conference, which wrapped up Tuesday, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said "the cold wind of xenophobia is blowing again as an erroneous answer to challenges posed by the economy and society."

"It is unfair. It is a law that is outrageous, ignominious," added Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who last month threatened to shut off oil exports to European countries if they enforce the new rules.

Many South American nationals live in Europe and send billions of dollars back home to their families.