EU powers
France,
Germany and Italy, along with smaller member Malta, will on Tuesday seek to rally the rest of the European bloc to a joint scheme they have come up with to distribute migrants saved at sea.
The Malta declaration is an attempt at a stop-gap measure pending efforts by the incoming
European Commission taking charge next month to unblock the refugee policy impasse under a vice president specifically tasked with "Protecting the European Way of Life".
The text urges EU countries to take a share of the asylum-seekers crossing the Mediterranean, who are arriving mostly in
Italy and Malta either in overcrowded boats or rescued by ships run by NGOs.