Europe faces stiff obstacles in its attempt to strike a deal with Libya over the lives of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death and the fate of hundreds of children with HIV, according to diplomats and analysts, reported the Financial Times.

In spite of hopes of a settlement, the European Union's negotiating position is weakened by Libya's pivotal role in efforts to restrict immigration from Africa to southern Europe.

The Libyan government has estimated that the country hosts between 1m and 1.2m illegal immigrants, many thousands of whom try to reach Europe, principally through Italy.

At a time of mounting concern about Europe's security of energy supply, the EU is also hoping to begin discussions on increasing co-operation with Libya over its oil and gas resources.

"The EU is not in a position to exert effective pressure," said Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya and now deputy chairman of the Libya British Business Council. "The idea that if you kick Libya hard enough it would do what you want it to do is wrong."

Libyan judges have now twice found the nurses, and a Palestinian doctor, guilty of infecting more than 400 children in the city of Benghazi with HIV and have twice sentenced them to death, most recently last month.

Many international ex-perts contend that the infections, which occurred in 1998, reflected poor sanitary conditions in the hospital rather than any deliberate act by the international medical staff.

But outrage in Bulgaria and calls in the Bulgarian media for a boycott on Libya have had little impact on the rest of the EU, announced the media.

"Our position with Libya will not be changing because of this ruling," said a spokesman for the British Foreign Office, highlighting that the verdict is still due to be scrutinised by two higher judicial bodies.

The country resists attempts to impugn its medical infrastructure and judicial process and the government is reluctant to break ranks with the families of the infected children.

"We had thought there was going to be an agreement last year," said one EU official, referring to hopes raised after December 2005, when Libya's Supreme Court cancelled an initial death sentence. "But with Bulgaria in the EU [from January 1], perhaps the calculation is that the lives of the nurses are now worth more."

According to the Financial Times, the European Commission has provided ˆ2m for the HIV victims, and has earmarked a further ˆ500,000, announced just before last month's court ruling. But earlier discussions between Tripoli, Bulgaria, the EU and the US revolved around much higher payments. The families have asked for payments of $10m per child, the same amount Libya paid the families of the Lockerbie victims.

EU governments are continuing informal contacts with Tripoli and officials say they still have reasonable expectations that an understanding will be reached.

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