ROME : Silvio Berlusconi's new Italian government is deflecting criticism over its hardline stance on illegal immigrants ahead of the announcement of a new rules.

The plans have triggering a war of words between Rome and the Madrid,and has also worried Italians fearful of seeing household employees deported.

The Berlusconi cabinet will meet in Naples on May 21, where they will outline the new rules on immigration as well as the blazing garbage crisis.

Italian press reports indicated that Rome was backtracking after last week's crackdown which saw hundreds of foreign nationals arrested, including gypsies from EU member Romania.

The intervention of Italy's ex-communist president, Giorgio Napolitano, in an ironic alliance with the Catholic Church, appears to have taken the edge off Berlusconi's initial plans, without watering down their basic premise.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini retorted critics, pointing out that Spain has been "very tough" on immigrants and suggested its policies have served as a template for Rome's new thinking.

However, he also urged Spain to rap the knuckles of figures including Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, who suggested that Italy was seeking to ride roughshod over "the rule of law and human rights."

Italy's European Affairs Minister Andrea Ronchi is to visit Madrid on Thursday to explain Rome's policies "and end tension" that has arisen over the matter.

"It must be understood that we are at the gate of entry to Europe from the Mediterranean and this gate must be closed to illegality," the Corriera della Sera, an Italian newspaper, quoted Ronchi as saying.

The immigration measures, piloted by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of the Northern League, sparked an emergency trip to Rome by his Romanian counterpart Cristian David, while Brussels is also maintaining a close watching brief to ensure the new laws conform to EU rules.

David pointed out that Romanians have the right to move freely within the EU, as do citizens of all 27 member countries, while offering full cooperation in tackling criminality involving Italian residents of Romanian origin.

Reports indicate that the Italian government is hesitant about declaring clandestine immigration an offence, while violating a deportation order will only be an aggravating circumstance rather than a separate crime.

Rome has assured Italians that those who provide services in the home, such as housekeeping or childcare, will not targeted if they lack the proper paperwork.

But it maintains that EU immigrants must secure and maintain a minimum wage and a decent level of accommodation, otherwise they will be sent back to their country of origin "for reasons of public security."

- AFP/cl