Brussels, 01/08/2006 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Franco Frattini has called on Italy to check “one by one” the 350,000 requests for regularisation from illegal immigrant workers, recently announced by the Prodi government, and threatened Italy with sanctions if the rules are not followed. “I am asking Interior Minister Giuliano D'Amato to examine one by one the 350,000 requests for regularisation from immigrant workers,” Mr Frattini said on 28 July at a press conference in Rome. “Checks are needed to determine if these are fictitious demands or if they effectively correspond to a work offer and lodging. Otherwise, European Union sanctions are envisaged,” he warned, according to AFP. On 21 July, the Italian government gave the go-ahead to a new quota of 350,000 workers from third countries, in addition to the 170,000 already authorised this year by the Berlusconi government. The decree adopted by the Council of Ministers would allow the regularisation of the status of all the immigrants who, on 14 March, expressed their desire to be included among the 170,000 workers to receive a work permit. Mr Amato said that the 517,000 requests received were “all equal”.