Germany, France, Italy and Malta are poised to break a long-lasting deadlock on migration with a new voluntary scheme to relocate asylum seekers rescued in the Mediterranean, according to a draft agreement obtained by POLITICO.

The agreement, due to be sealed at a meeting of interior ministers in Malta on Monday, is a fresh attempt to tackle an issue that has bitterly divided the EU since the migration crisis of 2015. Countries such as Italy and Malta have complained for years that other EU members have refused to take a fair share of the migrants who arrive on Europe's southern shores.

The new scheme is described as voluntary and temporary and it would only involve four countries for now — although some diplomats hope that it could serve as a model for a broader agreement. The interior minister of Finland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, and European Commission officials are also expected to attend Monday's meeting in the Maltese city of Vittoriosa.

But the pact may prove controversial as it refers repeatedly to asylum seekers and migrants, rather than to refugees. That could open the scheme up to people less likely to be granted international protection for reasons such as persecution or war.

In other words, France and Germany could, under the scheme, take in people much more likely to be regarded as economic migrants.

The number of asylum seekers who could be covered by the scheme would less than 10,000, said the diplomat.

In the short term, the deal is intended to ease a crisis that became acute under Italy's previous government, whose far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini ordered ports not to accept NGO ships carrying migrants rescued at sea.

Now a more pro-EU government has taken office in Rome, Berlin and Paris have a strong incentive to show Italian voters that the EU is wiling to help Italy with migration when it is run by a government that they judge adheres to the bloc's core values.

An EU attempt to impose mandatory quotas of refugees caused huge acrimony within the bloc in 2015. Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary refused to take part in the program.

The draft document outlines “voluntary commitments by member states.” The aim is to “set up a more predictable and efficient temporary solidarity mechanism in order to ensure the ... dignified disembarkation of migrants taken aboard on the high seas." At the moment, ships run by NGOs can spend long periods at sea waiting for a decision on which port will take them and which countries will take in the people they have rescued.

Among the points to be finalized are the criteria that would determine when a country would be eligible to receive support under the mechanism.

The deal could be “an important step towards the definition of an agreement on asylum,” said one diplomat, noting that European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has promised “a fresh start" on migration and asylum.

The fact that the draft never uses the term “refugee” appears to be a shift in favor of Italy, which argues that many of the people rescued in the Mediterranean do not qualify for this status. While other EU countries have been willing to accept refugees who arrived in another EU member state, they have been much less keen to take in people they see as economic migrants. This means these people often end up in the country where they first arrived in the EU.

One diplomat suggested, however, that the terminology would be open to interpretation and that, in practice, “countries that relocate only refugees will keep on relocating only refugees.”

The number of asylum seekers who could be covered by the scheme would less than 10,000, said the diplomat.

The draft, dated September 13, is not signed and diplomats warned that it is still a work in progress. The text “is still very open, pending political decisions,” said one. Significant portions of the text are marked in red or in brackets, meaning they have yet to be finalized.

Among the points to be finalized are the criteria that would determine when a country would be eligible to receive support under the mechanism, a possible rotation scheme for ports where migrants would disembark, and the duration of the temporary relocation.

A new text is expected to circulate by Monday but two diplomats said they expect that the most contentious points, on the eligibility criteria and the ports, to be left to ministers to decide.

The draft says that the temporary mechanism would apply “where that member state is confronted with a disproportionate number of applications.”

But the definition of "disproportionate" could create problems for Italy. Data from the EU asylum agency, EASO, shows that the highest number of registered first-time asylum seekers in 2018, relative to the size of the population, was recorded in Cyprus, ahead of Greece, Malta and Luxembourg. Italy is only 13th in the rankings, below France and Germany.

The signatory countries hope to extend the deal to other capitals. One of the points already agreed in the draft is that they “call on the other EU and Schengen [open-border zone] Member States to participate in this mechanism.”

“If we reach 12 countries, it will be a success,” said one diplomat.