The European Union should create a rapid response force of border guards who can be sent to member states to help cope with sudden influxes of illegal migrants, its executive arm said on today.
The proposal comes after Spain's Canary Islands and Malta asked other EU states for boats and experts to help them deal with a rising number of illegal arrivals aboard rickety boats.
More than 10,000 migrants have arrived in the Canaries so far this year, more than twice the figure of the whole of 2005.
"Our plan is to have at our disposal, at the disposal of Frontex (the EU's border agency) ... a permanent team of about 250-300 people from member states, which would be able to intervene very quickly," the EU's justice commissioner said.
The team should be deployable in 10 working days, Franco Frattini told a news conference.
Under the proposal, border guards could assist EU states faced by flows of migrants by checking travel documents and searching vehicles, as well as by taking part in sea patrols, stopping illegal crossings and interviewing migrants.
The guards could carry weapons if a country they came to help agreed to it, and would wear blue arm bands with the EU insignia, according to the proposal to be discussed and adopted by EU justice ministers and the European Parliament.
They would work under the authority of the border guard force they come to help.
Without waiting for the proposal to be adopted, Frontex is preparing its first sea border patrols to help the Canaries and Malta, but faces difficulties getting neighbouring states to agree to the patrols.
A spokeswoman for Frontex, Daniela Munz Bergova, said the launch of the Canaries mission had been delayed until Senegal and Spain reached an agreement on the mission, which Frontex wants to patrol West African shores to stop illegal migrants.
Mr Frattini said Libya had not yet agreed for the Maltese sea patrol to enter its territorial waters.
Flows of illegal migrants have create tensions among EU states. Malta has refused permission for a Spanish trawler which rescued 50 migrants close to Libya to land in its port. Mr Frattini hoped Spain and Malta would reach a solution quickly.