More than 31,000 illegal migrants reached Spain's Canary Islands last year -- six times more than in 2005. Italy and Malta faced similar unprecedented flows and many would-be migrants die on the journey.

"Citizens expect Europe to provide effective protection of its common external borders ... This is why I am pleased to see that we have today succeeded in achieving agreement," German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, chairing the talks, said.

Diplomats said the pool of border guards, to be placed by EU states at the disposal of the bloc's border agency Frontex for emergencies such as massive numbers of migrants arriving by sea, should be fully staffed by the end of the year.

"We plan to start the first training in July and smoothly step up the number of officers so that by the end of the year, the beginning of next year, we have 450 officers," a diplomat said after ministers backed the plan at talks in Luxembourg. Border guards from several EU countries, wearing EU-flagged armbands, would be deployed within 10 days of a member state requesting help, provided the EU border agency's director gives his green light to the request.

Fleeing poverty, migrants risk voyages of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles) from the African coast in the hope of reaching the wealthy 27-nation bloc. Some 6,000 died en route to the Canary Islands last year alone, Spanish officials have said.

At least 60 people died last month after a boat carrying around 120 passengers capsized off the coast of Guinea, state television in the West African country said.

The EU border agency struggled last year to gather a handful of boats, helicopters and experts for the bloc's first joint operations near the Canaries and in the Mediterranean. Diplomats hope the pool of on-call border guards, combined with a pool of available helicopters and boats, will allow the agency to launch operations much faster. Frontex does not have its own border guards or equipment.

EU Migration Commissioner Franco Frattini said that EU states had put 116 boats, 27 helicopters and 21 planes at the disposal of Frontex for its emergency operations.

The European Parliament's civil liberties committee has approved the plan, which is expected to be rubber-stamped by the full EU legislature later this month. The deal also has to be confirmed by parliaments of a few member states, diplomats said.

Source: Reuters