Italy will decide in the next few weeks whether to let in Romanian and Bulgarian workers from January or curb immigration from the EU's two newest member states, an unnamed source from the Interior told AFP.

The decision may not be uniform for the two countries, the source said.

Meanwhile Italy's Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said his country would open the doors of its labour market to the Romanian citizens, only if Bucharest cooperates in the fight against cross-border organized crimes.

Experts comment that Italy may be influenced in its decision by Spain, a main destination historically-speaking for Romanian and Bulgarian jobseekers, which clamped down on the immigrants from the two countries.

Italy and Spain have recently joined the liberal camp of countries that apply no labour restrictions to workers from the eight member states in central and eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004.

Finland, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia and Latvia have so far declared readiness to apply the principle of free movement of workers to the jobseekers from Bulgaria and Romania.

UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and Belgium approved measures to curb immigration from Romania and Bulgaria after the two countries join the European Union in January.

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