Brussels, 12/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner for Immigration Franco Frattini, has announced that Libya does indeed intend to cooperate with the European Union against the flow of illegal immigrants into Europe. “I have just received a letter from the Libyan authorities, who have agreed, for the first time, to receive a delegation of experts from the EU to look into the conditions for reinforced monitoring of the southern border (of the country), by which many immigrants transit”, said Mr Frattini in interview published with the French newspaper Le Monde on 10 February (our translation). The commissioner added that in return, “Tripoli will be a party to cooperation in the Mediterranean”. Mr Frattini also revealed that a meeting of the so-called “5+5”, or the five countries of the Northern shore of the Mediterranean (Portugal, Spain, France, Malta and Italy) and the five of the southern shore (Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Libya and Algeria) was soon to be held in Malta. This meeting is to be attended also by Greece and Cyprus from the European side, and Egypt from the African side. This meeting will be held before the end of March. Libya is one of the principal transit countries for illegal immigrants from the sub Saharan region, together with Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania. A great many of the illegal immigrants who disembark in Sicily and Malta come from Libya. The figures, furthermore, speak volumes: 23,000 people arrived in Italy in 2005 and 1800 in Malta. At the end of November, Colonel Mouammar Gadhaffi stated for the first time that he would agree to work with Frontex, the agency which coordinates the coastal patrols of the EU in the Mediterranean, in order to fight illegal immigration (EUROPE 9314). Mr Frattini also pointed out that he had written to all of the European ministers for immigration, urging them to honour the commitments (helicopters, aircraft and experts) they had made to Frontex. The commissioner admitted that he had not had much of a response yet, but added that he would take the opportunity of a forthcoming meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, scheduled for 15 - 16 February, to hold the countries to their responsibilities once more. “This is a matter of urgency. The operations must be able to start in the spring, both in the Canary Islands and in the central Mediterranean”, he stressed. (bc)