ANYONE from Lancashire travelling to Spain or any other popular European destination this summer is likely to encounter something very familiar -- a great public outcry about illegal immigration.

That's because this issue is not just a British, but a Europe-wide problem, which demands a Europe-wide solution. And at the recent Seville Summit, EU heads of government agreed a series of measures to tackle it.

Joint operations to tighten security on Europe's external borders will begin by the end of the year. There will be tighter visa controls and action to get third countries to re-admit illegals. And a timetable was agreed to establish EU-wide rules for processing asylum applications.

These moves are not designed to block legal migration and genuine asylum seekers. On the contrary, they specifically target illegal entry and false asylum claims that made life so difficult for genuine would-be newcomers.

Legal immigration into Europe has a long and proud history. Migrants bring major cultural and economic benefits to our countries. Indeed, many of Britain's public services could not function without them.

The Seville measures will crack down on international criminal gangs that trade in human misery. People-traffickers prey on the desperate and the dispossessed, helping them gain illegal entry into Europe, by exploiting weaknesses in the existing asylum and immigration system.

A co-ordinated Europe-wide approach offers the only possible solution. And in Seville, EU leaders finally started to tackle an issue that concerns so many of their citizens.

GARY TITLEY, Labour MEP for the North West, Spring Lane, Radcliffe, Manchester.