The European Commission wants the EU to be able to adopt the United Nations global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration when it is concluded, normally next July. It is for this reason that the Commission adopted two proposals on Wednesday 21 March for a decision of the EU Council in order to be authorised to approve this global compact on behalf of the EU, when the time comes. The negotiation for the compact is to enter its crucial phase in New York, after a year of UN consultations.
The Commission says that these proposals for a decision “aim to ensure the EU’s capacity to promote its policies and interests in the next rounds of the negotiations” of this global agreement, which will allow commitments on all aspects of migration to be agreed and taken, safe movements to be promoted and irregular migration to be reduced.
The future global compact, on which the US administration has turned its back, will not be legally binding, as the UN secretary general's special representative for international migration, Louise Arbour, had said two days earlier during a debate with MEPs from three European Parliament committees (see EUROPE 11985). The European Parliament plans on adopting a resolution on this subject in April. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)