Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz (left) and vice-chancellor HC Strache announce they are following in the footsteps of leaders from the United States and Hungary by a decision not to sign the UN Migration Compact in December.
By Carolyn Yeager
THE UN MIGRATION COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION was approved in July by all 193 UN members except the United States. Later Victor Orban of Hungary said he would not sign the final document, which signing ceremony is to take place in Marrakesh, Morocco in December. Now Sebastian Kurz, chancellor of Austria, has announced that his country has decided not to sign it and will not send a representative to Morocco for the event. Poland is also indicating that it will probably decide the same. [Update: https://www.dw.com/en/merkel-meets-polish-pm-as-he-threatens-withdrawal-from-un-migration-pact/a-46135819]
The compact, which calls mass migration “inevitable, necessary, and desirable,” is made up of 23 goals, some of which definitely infringe upon the sovereignty of first world nations. Austria, in making its Oct. 31 announcement said that 17 of those goals are unacceptable to its government, led by Kurz's conservative Peoples Party in coalition with vice-chancellor Hans-Christian Strache's populist Freedom Party.
