Spain plans immigration crackdown

A large trade exists smuggling people into Europe

The Spanish cabinet has approved a tough immigration bill aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants entering the country.

The controversial bill, to be debated by parliament after the summer break, withdraws civil rights granted to foreigners only last December.

The government says it has been driven to act due to the rise in human trafficking across the Straits of Gibraltar.

Spain's police have recently picked up many from its southern coasts

The move coincides with mounting problems relating to immigration elsewhere in Europe.

In Hungary, more than 100 people have been discovered being smuggled into the country by police in the last two days - nearly half of whom were found close to death in a lorry.

On Friday, the United Nations appealed to Germany to stop forcibly deporting Romas to Kosovo following the rising violence against the community.

Italy has also been grappling with the immigration issue and recently held discussions with the Albanian Government to stem the problem.

The Albanian mafia have a profitable trade smuggling people across the Adriatic Sea.

Approval likely for bill

Spain's new immigration legislation is widely expected to be approved by Congress as Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's party holds a comfortable majority in the legislature.

Many of Spain's migrants come from Morocco

The opposition Socialist Party and human rights groups say the law is too restrictive and fails to consider humanitarian needs.

They have called on the government to wait until the autumn to see whether the apparent increase in immigrants - mainly destitute Africans - continues.

Mr Aznar says the current law, passed in December, has attracted more foreigners to Spain.

That law gives all foreigners living in Spain - with or without residency papers -the same rights as Spaniards, including that for education, medical care and political rights.

This year, 6,958 people have been caught trying to enter the country so far - a rise from the total figure for 1999 of 5,492.

Suffocating in lorry

In Hungary, police discovered 46 people in suffocating conditions the back of an airless lorry on Thursday.

"If not found they would have died of suffocation within an hour," said a police spokesman for the region around Besenyotelek, east of Budapest.

Many of them - who comprised Afghans, Indians, Nepalis and Somalians - were close to death.

The incident threatened to be a repeat of a tragedy that occurred in Hungary in 1995, when 15 Tamils were found dead in a lorry.

More recently, 58 Chinese suffocated before arriving at the British port of Dover in June.

In other recent incidents, Hungarian police also found 43 people crammed into a van heading into Austria on Friday.

And on Thursday, 24 illegal Chinese immigrants travelling on foot were caught by the border with Yugoslavia.

"The man, who speaks no Albanian and whose entire family was left behind in Germany, expressed concern about his safety," said Mr Redmond.