Prague, Sept 14 (CTK) – The Czech Chamber of Deputies will discuss the UN global compact for migration on Wednesday, it decided on the proposal of the Communists (KSCM) today, though their previous proposal to put the compact on the agenda failed to make it through on Thursday.
The global compact was approved by more than 190 UN member countries in mid-July. The goal of the deal, which is not binding on the signatories, is to support safe, controlled and legal migration and curb people-smuggling and trafficking.
At the time, the Czech Foreign Ministry emphasised that the document was not binding and that individual countries would take a position on it at a conference due in December.
Ondracek on Thursday argued that the migration compact and a compact on refugees are on the agenda of the UN General Assembly session later this month, in which Interior Minister Jan Hamacek (Social Democrats, CSSD), who is also acting foreign minister, will represent Prague.
That is why Ondracek wanted the Czech cabinet to inform the lower house of parliament about its position on the two compacts.
Before the repeated vote today, Ondracek said most people show interest in the migration issue.
He said its inclusion in the agenda of the current parliament session had been agreed upon beforehand, but on Thursday a communication “jam” occurred and the proposal did not gain sufficient support from deputies.
Like on Thursday, Tomio Okamura’s opposition Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) movement failed today to have put its own proposal about the compact on the session agenda. The SPD proposed that he Chamber of Deputies take a position on it.
SPD deputies’ group chairman Radim Fiala today said immigration projects threaten the interests of the Czech Republic.
The SPD is likely to propose that the Chamber of Deputies call on the cabinet to withdraw from the migration compact.
Last year, the negotiations about the global migration compact were left by the USA, which argues that the deal is incompatible with its own migrant policy.
In late July, Budapest announced the procedure of withdrawal from the talks, saying the compact went counter to Hungary’s security interests.
The goal of the Global pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is to ascertain why people migrate and define ways to protect migrants and integrate them in the EU, to enable their return home and solve other issues. It defines migration as a fundamental human right.
The SPD today also failed to push through a debate on the EP’s Wednesday recommendation that the EU launch sanction procedure against Hungary over the latter’s serious threat to EU values.
Fiala called the EP’s decision an act of political aggression.