In a meeting in the Italian Parliament, EU Comm-

issioner Franco Frattini informed Maltese green MP Arnold Cassola that as from next January, Libyan police forces, possibly together with some Italian units, should be patrolling the desert frontier between Chad, Niger and Libya under the EU flag, in order to prevent as much as possible the illegal trafficking of human beings.

In a reply to questions from Mr Cassola, Comm-

issioner Frattini said that as soon as the present issue concerning the death sentence of the Palestinian doctor and Bulgarian nurses is resolved in a positive way, the EU will be proposing a special bilateral treaty to Libya, whereby illegal migrants from Chad and Niger entering Libya through the land frontier would be repatriated under the aegis of the UNHCR (the United Nations High Commission for Refugees), in order to guarantee respect for the basic human rights of the individuals concerned.

Commissioner Frattini said he had already had talks with Maltese Interior Minister Tonio Borg and Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato on this issue.

He informed Mr Cassola that next October he will be presenting to the EU Council a draft directive on the Rights and Duties of Migrants together with a directive, which will propose criminal action against those employers who illegally employ migrants, without affording them their basic working and social rights.