Franco-Spanish summit opens in Paris 10/01/2008 00:00

Sarkozy and Zapatero opened the 20th Franco-Spanish summit meeting in Paris on Thursday.

10 January 2008

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero opened the 20th Franco-Spanish summit meeting in Paris on Thursday.

The central issue at the summit, which is also attended by the two countries' foreign, defence, interior and justice ministers, was expected to be illegal immigration.

Sarkozy had previously criticised the Spanish government's decision to grant residency permits to some 700,000 illegal immigrants in 2005.

Late Wednesday, the French president told deputies in the National Assembly, "Why do we have a Schengen Agreement (on eliminating internal borders in Europe) if we have no common immigration policy?"

Other issues expected to be discussed at the summit are the fight against Islamic and domestic terrorism and the construction of a new high-voltage electric grid between the two countries.

[Copyright dpa 2008]

Subject: Spanish news