The ministers of foreign affairs of the EU member states are due to discuss the issue with the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor, jailed in Libya, on Monday and Tuesday, the Portugal news agency Lusa reported.

An EU source, quoted by Lusa, has said prior to the foreign ministers meeting that if the issue is settled in favour of the medics, the block should consider a closer political relation with Libya.

The six medics' death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment on Wednesday by the highest judicial body in the North African country. Hours after the decision was pronounced, Libya's Foreign Minister said the ball is in the court of the European Union and Bulgaria over the fate of the six medics.

Meanwhile, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, surprisingly announced that Libya itself handed out compensations for the HIV families that led to lifting the Bulgarian medics' death verdicts.

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