The Muslim delegation also urged Zapatero to attach more attention to the issue of immigration. (Reuters)

By Al-Amin Andalusi, IOL Correspondent

RABAT, November 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Muslims in the autonomous region of Catalonia are urging the Spanish government to give them full rights and treat them on equal footing with native Spaniards to achieve better integration into society.

"Muslims in Spain want full citizenship rights to work hand-in-hand with their fellow Spaniards in building the country," Mohamed Halhoul, a spokesman for the Islamic Council of Catalonia, said on Monday, November 28.

During a meeting Monday, a delegation of Catalonian Muslims presented Premier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero a document urging intensified efforts to help immigrants fully integrate into society.

"Muslims don't want to live in ghettos similar to the situation in other European countries such as France ," Halhol asserted.

He added that Zapatero was "very understanding" to their demands during the meeting, also attended by Catalonian Catholic and Jewish leaders.

The meeting coincided with the Euromed summit and a three-day UN-sponsored meeting to promote a cross-cultural Alliance of Civilizations.

Spain has a Muslim minority of about 600,000 people out of a total population of 40 million.

Catalonia is home to around 100,000 Moroccan immigrants, which is attributed to the geographical proximity with Morocco.

Since 1979, the region has been continuously achieving higher levels of autonomy which makes it easier for immigrants to achieve success, contrary to other Spanish cities.

Immigration

The Muslim delegation also urged Zapatero to attach more attention to the issue of immigration.

The document asked European countries, particularly Spain, to take this issue seriously and "coordinate" with all parties to tackle the flow of immigrants from north African countries.

It attributed the rising numbers of immigrants to the deteriorating living conditions in their homelands.

"These conditions push the immigrants to seek better opportunities and future," the document read.

The European Union agreed Monday a pact with its southern neighbors to stem a growing tide of illegal migrants.

The deal, which also promotes legal migration, aims to "reduce significantly the level of illegal migration, trafficking in human beings and loss of life through hazardous sea and border crossings."

The problem of poor Africans desperately seeking to cross the Mediterranean into Europe was highlighted by the recent deaths of a number of sub-Saharan immigrants trying to enter Spain 's north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Late September, Spain started the deportation of thousands of illegal immigrants as part of an organized operation with four other European countries.

Spain, according to official statistics, is home to more than one and a half million illegal immigrants, including an estimated half a million Muslims from North African countries.

Earlier this year Spain amnestied around 700,000 immigrants without documents after proving they had arrived before last August, had a job contract and no criminal record.