(BRUSSELS) - European Union nations set common rules Thursday on expelling some 12 million illegal immigrants on their territory, including many who are working on the black market.

The measures, agreed by EU ambassadors in Brussels, will target people whom Europeans rarely suspect are breaking the law in their countries: visa overstayers, the biggest category of illegal immigrants in the 27 nation bloc.

These illegals are often Filipinos, nationals from China and Ukraine or Latin American and African states, and can include US citizens, Japanese and others.

They enter Europe on a tourist visa, become reasonably well integrated and work on the black market, perhaps as cleaners or child minders for families, or in industry as labourers and restaurant staff.

"They are modern-day slaves. They have no rights," said Manfred Weber, a German member of the European Parliament (MEP) and rapporteur on the issue.

The new rules will not focus on would-be asylum seekers who disembark on the shores of Italy, France, Malta or Spain after dangerous sea journeys from northern Africa.

Yet despite the new harmonisation of EU rules, the measures will not stop nations targetting one category of illegal immigrant over another.

Italy's interior minister, Roberto Maroni, for example, has assured Italians that their housekeepers and babysitters without proper papers will not be hunted down.

The agreement, which must be endorsed by EU interior ministers and pass through parliament in June, obliges national authorities to choose between giving clandestine immigrants residency status or expelling them.

Italy and Spain have given papers to some 700,000 people in recent years, but France refuses to do so.

Under the measures, an illegal immigrant has two options: "return" home or face "removal".

Should he or she -- and these steps also involve children -- decline both options and resist, the individual would be forced to leave and face being banned from EU territory for five years.

As far as forced expulsions are concerned, authorities could decide to keep individuals in custody for up to six months -- 18 months in exceptional circumstances -- particularly if they are deemed likely to run away.

This could also happen if their home countries are slow to provide documents.

According to one European official, "this is nothing but a piece of paper without an agreement on readmission" of such illegals with their nations of origin.

French MEP Martine Roure opposes the measures and has decided to fight for changes. She wants the period of custody reduced, and is counting on the support of all parties of the left to help her.

She believes that through this EU harmonisation countries like France, Italy and Spain will be able to detain people for longer than the one or two months they are usually held for now.

"Countries which are very repressive are going to hide behind this text to adopt laws which will be in contravention of human rights," she said, pointing to projects that the new Italian government is thought to be preparing.

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