Slovakia Refuses to Sign UN Migration Deal – Prime Minister

PRAGUE (Sputnik) – Slovakia will not sign the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, known as the UN migration deal, the country’s prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, said on Sunday.

“As the head of the government I reject the text of the migration deal and refuse to put it into effect in Slovakia,” Pellegrini told Slovak reporters after the meeting of the European Council in Brussels, as quoted by the Pravda newspaper.

READ MORE: Estonian PM Says Gov't Facing Crisis Over Disagreements on UN Migration Deal

The prime minister also noted that participation of Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak in the UN conference in Morocco may be canceled as the country has no plans to join the deal.

The official's comment comes after the Slovak foreign minister said on Saturday that he may resign if he is recommended to refrain from taking part in the UN conference. As head of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2017 – September 2018, Lajcak took part in the work on the migration deal.

The UN migration deal is set to be formally adopted at the UN conference in Morocco on December 10-11. Several EU countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary and Poland have already announced that they would not be part of the UN global pact on migration. The United States has also no plans to join the agreement.