BERLIN, Jan 9 (Reuters) - European Union presidency holder Germany vowed on Tuesday to try to ensure the release of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS.

Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters she welcomed new entrants Romania and Bulgaria into the enlarged bloc and said the case of the Bulgarian nurses, who proclaim their innocence, was a common cause of concern for Germany and the EU.

"As far as the nurses are concerned, the Commission and the German presidency will do everything possible to influence Libya to ensure the nurses are released," Merkel said at a joint news conference with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

A Libyan court sentenced the five nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death last year in a deeply politicised case which threatens to set back oil producer Libya's hopes of improving its ties with the West after three decades of isolation.

Barroso, in Berlin with other members of the European Commission to discuss Germany's EU presidency which began this month, described the nurses' situation as "completely unfair".

"We hope the Libyan authorities will understand how important this is for their cooperation with Europe," he said.

The six deny infecting 426 children with HIV at the hospital in the late 1990s. More than 50 of the children have since died.

Bulgaria has condemned the death sentences and wants the international community to put pressure on the north African state. (Writing by Madeline Chambers; editing by Alistair Lyon; Berlin Newsroom, +49 30 2888 5230, madeline.chambers@reuters.com)

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