Following the withdrawal of Austria and Hungary from the UNO Migration Pact, support for the pact should now be discussed again in Slovenia. The new government should, given changing circumstances, consider whether Slovenia should „possibly express reservations“ when adopting the UN document, Foreign Minister Miro Cerar said on Tuesday, according to news agency STA.
Pressure of the opposition
Since the spring, when the previous government under his leadership approved the pact, according to Cerar, the circumstances have changed both in the international environment and in Slovenia with the change of government. It is true that the new governing coalition is discussing the issue, Cerar said.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Miro Cerar
The center-left government, meanwhile, is under great pressure from the conservative opposition to also end the UN pact. The government should not only resign from the agreement, but also „actively oppose the adoption of this document,“ demanded the opposition MEP Branko Grims of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). „The pact endangers European civilization,“ Grims warned. The largest opposition SDS yesterday, together with the Christian Democrats NSi and the nationalist SNS, has called for an extraordinary parliamentary session, with a parliamentary resolution that would oblige the government to do so.
Short against „spongy“ term
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) again expressed his pact: He did not consider a „spongy“ concept of migration to be worthy of support. Austria takes agreements very seriously, and so there is the danger of customary law even with non-binding. „That does not change the fact that we should commit ourselves to multilateral cooperation and act together on the migration issue“, both in the EU and with countries of transit and origin, according to Kurz.
FPÖ Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl also defended Austria’s position on the UN Migration Compact. The fact that Austria would abstain from voting was a political decision, Kneissl told the Council of Ministers. She was not mentioned by her counterparts.
UN contradicts criticism
Meanwhile, the UN is trying to dispel concerns. The responsible Special Representative for Migration, Louise Arbor, rejected in the „time“ the accusation that the agreement promotes a mass immigration to Europe: „If a country does not depend on it or does not think it is right to accept labor from other countries, then let derive no obligation from the pact to open the borders. “
The Global Compact for Migration will be formally adopted at a conference in Marrakech on 10 and 11 December. It contains a number of guidelines and measures, the implementation of which is legally binding.
