The face of the UN Migration Pact German Chancellor Angela Merkel has hailed the agreement signed Monday as good for migrants and the world, while populist anti-mass migration French politician Marine Le Pen has warned it will “forever change” the face of France.
“Today is a very important day,” Dr Merkel said Monday after 164 out of 193 countries voted in favour of adopting the United Nations’ Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which states that mass migration is “inevitable, desirable and necessary” and aims to institutionalise it at an international level.
The German Chancellor, who suspended asylum rules and invited unlimited numbers of migrants to Europe at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, told UN delegates in Marrakesh, Morocco, that signing the document was a “good signal that we are dealing with the fate of the many millions of migrants worldwide,” she said, according to Die Zeit.
“It is therefore worthwhile to fight for this pact: firstly because of the many people who can get a better life from it, but also because of the clear commitment to multilateralism.
“Only through this we will be able to make our planet better,” she said.
Taking a swipe at pro-borders nations that rejected signing the document, the notional conservative said, “Everyone knows that national unilateralism will not solve this problem” — a statement disproven by both Italy and Hungary in the past two years which have successfully reduced the numbers of migrant arrivals.
Claiming that the pact is “clearly fighting the illegal migration,” Merkel added that migration was natural and that Germany has an interest in migration — “something that … if it’s legal, is good too.”
France, led by progressive President Emmanuel Macron, is one of the nations to have signed up to the controversial document.
The populist anti-mass migration National Rally and the establishment right-wing Republicans denounced France’s engagement with the agreement without public consultation.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said Monday, “Once again, the French are kept out of a decision that will forever change the face of our country. For our government, the people matter at a negligible amount.”
“The mobilisation against this immigrationist disgrace… must continue: what scornful oligarchs have done, the French people can defeat!” she added.
The Republicans called it a commitment taken “on the sly,” according to Europe 1, with MP Julien Aubert saying, “Once again, in the midst of a political crisis and when there is a lot of migratory pressure, Emmanuel Macron did not want to hear, and by signing this pact, the message sent to the hundreds of millions of potential migrants is ‘come!'”
“This pact was presented as legally non-binding, but it remains a text that promotes a call for migration and multiculturalism,” said Republicans spokesman Lydia Guirous at a press conference.
“It is intolerable that France engages on the sly on this subject when the French, especially through the mobilisation of Yellow Vests, who demand to be heard and their voices matter,” she added.
Yellow Vest protesters have added objection to France signing the compact to their movement, with protesters in Lyon bearing a banner Saturday saying “No Marrakesh!”
The compact, approved Monday and set to be formally approved by the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 19th, was rejected by the United States, Australia, Israel, and several European Union countries which all want to maintain control of their national immigration policies, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying last year, “The global approach in the New York declaration is simply not compatible with US sovereignty.”
While proponents claim the terms are not legally binding, experts have said that the international agreement exists in a “legal grey area” and the wording could be used by human rights and immigration lawyers to interpret national laws.