The six largest countries in the European Union are considering having immigrants sign a contract that would require they learn the language of their adopted country and accept its social norms or risk being expelled.

The "integration contract" is still to be discussed with the other 19 EU member states. Nicolas Sarkozy, French interior minister, proposed it during a meeting of ministers from the "G6" countries - Germany, Britain, France, Poland, Spain and Italy - at Heiligendamm, a luxury resort on Germany's Baltic coast. His idea is based on draft procedures already being debated in France.