国际英语资讯:40 pct of Germans concerned over effects of new UN migration pact: survey_时事

国际英语资讯:40 pct of Germans concerned over effects of new UN migration pact: survey

Although the compact largely builds on existing international law, a handful of countries, including the United States, Austria and Hungary, have already announced that they will refuse to add their signatures.

Representatives from these states have cited concerns that doing so could limit their national sovereignty and complained that the pact failed to distinguish between regular migrants and refugees.

Aside from health minister Spahn, who is one of the candidates to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel as CDU leader, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has also repeatedly attacked the compact.

In a recent example of the party's traditional anti-establishment and anti-immigration rhetoric, AfD co-leader Alexander Gauland has described the UN's efforts to promote multilateral cooperation on migration with the document as part of an agenda of "leftist dreamers and globalist elites".

Merkel has publicly defended the compact as being in Germany's "national interest" because it could help improve migratory conditions across the world. The veteran chancellor has also highlighted that the agreement is not legally binding and has no bearing on national laws.

Nevertheless, Alexander Mitsch, Federal Chairman of the "Value Union", argued on Tuesday that the Insa survey showcased that the CDU/CSU needed to take the related worries of people seriously and ensure that Berlin did not enter any incalculable obligations with regards to migration and asylum.