(BERLIN) — The Austrian government says it won’t sign a global compact to promote safe and orderly migration, citing concerns about sovereignty and illegal migration.
Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz took office last December in a coalition with the nationalist, anti-migration Freedom Party. Austria currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, and Kurz has made curbing unregulated migration a priority.
The non-binding global migration compact was finalized under U.N. auspices in July and is due to be formally approved in Marrakech, Morocco in December.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Kurz and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache said Wednesday Austria won’t sign the document or send an official representative to Marrakech. They cited fears about the loss of national sovereignty on migration matters and a possible watering-down of distinctions between legal and illegal migration.
