People smuggling tops Euro agendas

Many illegal immigrants target lorries crossing the Channel

CAHORS, France (CNN) -- Efforts to end the rising tide of illegal immigration are being discussed at talks across Europe.

The trade in illegal immigrants is worth more than $30 billion a year and has become a lucrative market for organised crime syndicates.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair began talks with his French counterpart Lionel Jospin and President Jacques Chirac on Friday to look at ways of reducing the number of immigrants reaching the UK.

And in Sweden, European Union ministers are attempting to harmonise immigration rules and tackle human trafficking.

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Britain had the highest number of asylum seekers in Europe last year -- many entering from France -- and Blair will be hoping that the two sides can come up with a solution.

Under the current regulations, many of those arrested are simply returned to temporary Red Cross accommodation at Calais from where they are free to make another attempt to reach the UK.

One illegal immigrant sent back to Calais told CNN he had made about 25 attempts to reach England, while an Afghan man said he had paid $14,000 to people traffickers who promised to get him into the UK.

Three months before a possible general election, Blair is facing increasing pressure from opponents who say Britain is a "soft touch" for bogus asylum seekers who are really just economic migrants in search of a better living.

More than 20,000 people were caught being smuggled into the UK last year but authorities believe many more made it through.

New laws have been introduced in the UK which make it possible to fine lorry drivers £2,000 for any illegal immigrants found in the trucks -- legislation that drivers say is unfair because often they are not aware immigrants have sneaked into their vehicles.

Scanners have also been introduced at some ports that can detect carbon dioxide -- and therefore the presence of people breathing -- inside the trucks' cargo containers.

Britain says its asylum applications reached a high of more than 76,000 last year with a backlog of about 100,000 asylum applications.

Several high-profile incidents have focused European attention on immigration, most notably the deaths in June of 58 Chinese who attempted to cross the English Channel and enter Britain inside an airtight lorry container.

Britain is one of several European countries calling for hard-hitting measures which could re-write the United Nations' Geneva Convention on refugees.

"European governments must work more closely to tackle the flow of illegal immigration," British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Italian counterpart Guilliano Amato urged in a joint statement last weekend.

Their comments were backed by British Home Secretary Jack Straw who raised the prospect of overhauling the 50-year-old Geneva Convention on refugees to face the current situation.

He urged the EU to draw up a list of safe nations from which asylum applications would automatically be ruled out.

The annual Anglo-French summit comes as European justice ministers are debating the wider issue of "people smuggling" in Stockholm, agreeing on Thursday to send more immigration police and intelligence units to the Western Balkans to curb the growing trade.

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Immigration Policy in the European Community
The British Refugee Council
British Home Office
European Union

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