EU powers push for uptake of migrant relocation pilot scheme

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.