Europese patrouilles gaan Afrikaanse kust bewaken

The European Commission plans to create a rapid-reaction expert team as one of 15 measures to help Spain cope with the influx of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa.

EU justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini i said that the EU "is involved and ready to bring all necessary assistance to solve the problem" and added that illegal immigration "does not lie on the Spanish table but on the European table," reported Spanish radio Cadena Ser.

The move comes as Spain's deputy prime minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega came to Brussels on Tuesday (23 May) to ask for help with the situation, as her government and the regional authorities in the Canary Islands can no longer cope, she said.

Some 7,000 Sub-Saharan immigrants arrived on the Spanish Canary Islands outside the coast of West Africa in the first five months of 2006, compared to 4,715 in the whole of 2005.

Just last week, more than 1,500 - including children - made their way to the islands, which migrants see as a possible gateway to the European Union.

Mr Frattini said the EU's border control agency Frontex will in the coming weeks send naval and aerial patrols along the coasts of the islands and of Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Cape Verde where most of the migrants originate.

He said the equipment and experts would come from eight EU member states and that the patrols would prevent immigrants reaching EU soil.

EU countries facing similar problems such as Malta and Italy will also benefit from the new measures, he added.

Brussels' offer comes after strong signals from Madrid that it is unhappy with the lack of EU solidarity over the immigration issue.

Spain's industry minister Jose Montilla this week accused the commission of being over-zealous on industry mergers while neglecting immigration.

He said Brussels should be "as sensitive to the dramas of immigration as it is to the pressures of E.ON," referring to a German energy firm with takeover plans of Spain's Endesa.