EU Says Global Compact Doesn't Create Legal Right for Migration

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union said the United Nations Global Compact on Migration isn’t legally binding and doesn’t create a right for migration.

Opposition to the compact has united populist and right-wing parties and caused problems for governments across Europe. Belgium’s governing coalition fractured after Prime Minister Charles Michel’s administration lost the support of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance over the non-binding UN agreement. Estonia and Slovakia are among other governments that also have faced backlashes over the accord.

“The Global Compact on Migration is not legally binding. It does not create a legal right for migration,” Margaritis Schinas, spokesman for the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday. “And it does not seek to encourage irregular migration, but seeks to fight against irregular migration and smuggling and trafficking,” he said.

“No legal obligations arise under domestic or international law for participating states,” Schinas said. “And states can decide freely to participate to its implementation or not.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jones Hayden in Brussels at jhayden1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Jones Hayden

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