Failed asylum seekers will be deported by bus, train, and ummarked police cars, until they are "finally removed" from the EU under a plan drawn up by European officials

They would be "escorted" out of the EU in an attempt to "terminate the illegal residence of third country nationals", according to the hitherto secret proposal. Any "legitimate measure" would be used to prevent them escaping. The plan, proposed by the EU's Italian presidency and leaked to the Guardian, reflects an increasing determination among EU governments to step up the pace of deportations. Last month the Italian presidency came up with a radical proposal for the EU to set an annual quota for the number of asylum seekers accepted in European countries. Its new plan is designed partly to overcome the reluctance of one EU state to accept deportees from another for fear they will simply stay in that second EU country or claim asylum there. Failed asylum seekers in this way can be passed from one member country to another, EU governments argue. Lack of any agreement on this between member states means that all deportations have to take place by air or sea. Under the proposed EU directive, "third country nationals who are the subject of removal orders" would be escorted by guards throughout their journey across member states. They would be deposited when they reached their country of origin or the last "safe" non-EU country they had passed through.