European Interest

Czech check-out of UN migration pact

Flickr/NATO/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
“I don't like the pact. It's not clearly interpreted, and it could be abused,” Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told parliament on November 1.

The Czech Republic’s support for a United Nations migration pact set to be adopted next month is up in the air, following rejections by the United States, Hungary and Austria.

“I don’t like the pact. It’s not clearly interpreted, and it could be abused,” Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told parliament on November 1. His centre-left cabinet is set to discuss the issue next week.

“The United States have pulled out, Hungary too, now Austria, and Poland is debating it as well,” he added.

As reported by the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Global Compact for Migration, whose final text was agreed in July after 18 months of negotiations is set to be adopted during a conference in Morocco on December 10-11.

It lays out 23 objectives to open up legal migration and better manage migratory flows as the number of people on the move worldwide has increased to 250 million, or 3% of the world’s population.

Explore more