Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni has backed Malta's proposal of setting up an agency in Libya where asylum seekers would be able to apply for protection.

Mr Maroni, who was speaking yesterday during a discussion programme on Italian television, said he would be meeting the UNHCR's representatives to explain his government's position.

The proposal to have an agency and checkpoints in Libya was first floated publicly by Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici in The Sunday Times last week.

"The proposal we are making is not that suggested by the UNHCR to take in all migrants and then process their application. We want to create a structure in Libya so that the evaluation process to determine whether someone is eligible for protection can be held over there," Mr Maroni said.

The EU lacked "decisive action" on the matter, he said, accusing the union of leaving Italy, Spain and Malta "all alone to face a phenomenon that concerns all of Europe".

Mr Maroni defended his government's hard-line stance of immediately sending back to Libya all migrants rescued at sea. The contentious decision was criticised by the UNHCR, the Vatican's migration commission and other humanitarian organisations for breaching the fundamental human right of a person to ask for protection.

Meanwhile, Italy yesterday tightened its anti-immigrant stand when Parliament passed a law making those who arrive illegally in Italy liable to a fine.

A total of 316 lawmakers voted for the legislation punishing illegal entry or residence on Italian soil with a fine of between €5,000 and €10,000, in a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's administration.

The law also stipulates that anyone caught letting accommodation to people living illegally would be liable to a maximum of three months in jail.

Another amendment increased the minimum detention period for illegal immigrants from two months to six.