BRUSSELS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - European Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner unveiled a broad plan on Tuesday to strengthen controls on the European Union's external borders in the wake of a chaotic surge of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
The plan, which requires the approval of member states, would strengthen the mandate of Frontex, the EU border protection agency, and give it a standing corps ready for immediate deployment.
Frontex would collaborate more closely with EU member states, play a greater role in returning irregular migrants, and expand its capacity to monitor external borders and adjacent areas, he said.
The package also covers systems to provide early warning of border breaches, a crackdown on people smugglers, and more aid for countries where migrants originate, although Brunner gave no specifics of the cost or resources required.
He said illegal border crossings were at their lowest level since 2021, despite July's border breach by more than 72,000 people who poured into Ceuta from Morocco, an incident in which scores drowned or were crushed.
Most later returned but the incident, caught on dramatic video footage, prompted furious recriminations from Italy and demands for better border controls from other EU members.
People who legally enter any state in the EU's Schengen area can in theory travel freely within its 29 countries - although Ceuta, where some 10,000 irregular migrants remain, is not part of the zone.
"We will see how it works, but we support everything the Spanish government does to return ... the people who are in Ceuta illegally," Brunner said.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, additional reporting from Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Kevin Liffey)
