(VOVworld) - The European Commission has drawn up proposals to create a 1,000-strong EU borders and coastguard agency to help secure the bloc's external borders in reaction to the migrant crisis.

Members of the Frontex, European Border Protection Agency, from Portugal, hold a child at the port of Molyvos after a rescue operation near the Greek island of Lesbos, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 (Photo: AP)

The proposed new agency's tasks would include defending and protecting EU borders, providing migrants with support and carrying out search and rescue operations. It would have a staff of around 1,000 people and would be authorized to intervene whenever national authorities could not. The agency would work closely with planned European reception centres, or 'hotspots', to be established in Greece and southern Italy to ensure more comprehensive identification, registration and processing of new arrivals in Europe.

According to the International Organization for Migration, since the beginning of this year, around 860,000 migrants rushed to Europe by crossing the borders and the sea.