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Agence France-Presse

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel was left leading a minority administration on Sunday after the Flemish nationalist party quit the ruling coalition over his support of a UN migration pact.
The New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the largest of the coalition’s four parties, had earlier threatened to leave if Michel backed the controversial accord.
Belgium’s King Philippe accepted the resignations of the N-VA’s ministers after meeting Michel at the royal palace, according to a statement.
Michel also presented the king with the list of replacements for the departing N-VA ministers in the interior, finance, defence and immigration portfolios.

The departure of the Flemish party means Michel lacks a parliamentary majority five months before legislative elections.
“I regret that it has come to this,” Michel told RTL-TVI television channel.
He said a “responsible coalition” had been set up and called for “dialogue with parliament” warning of a looming risk of early elections.
Interior minister and N-VA member Jan Jambon confirmed earlier on Sunday that he and the party’s other ministers would step down.
“It’s clear,” he told national broadcaster RTBF, following hours of uncertainty.
In power for four years, the coalition has often been plagued over the N-VA’s anti-immigration positions.
European Union criticises Austria for not signing global migration pact backed by many countries
Health Minister Maggie De Block, who will also take on the immigration portfolio replacing N-VA’s Theo Francken, said she would pursue “a new strict but fair” immigration policy.
“I am taking on a department in crisis. It’s chaos,” the new minister said in a statement.
On Saturday night, N-VA leader Bart De Wever warned Michel that the party would leave the coalition if the prime minister flew to a UN conference in Marrakesh on Sunday to endorse the immigration pact.
“If we no longer have a voice in this government … there is no point in continuing,” De Wever said.
However Michel stood firm, saying he would endorse the pact.
A last-gasp cabinet meeting was held late Saturday, but failed to overcome what Michel called a “profound difference” between the parties.

The non-binding UN accord, which would promote a common global approach to migrant flows, was initially supported by all four parties in Belgium’s coalition.
But the N-VA changed its mind in late October.
The country that signs the pact obviously signs a pact with the devil
Marine Le Pen, French far-right leader
The crisis had been rumbling for several weeks before bursting into the open on Tuesday when Michel turned to parliament after failing to unite his government behind the pact.
The liberal prime minister has steadfastly defended the pact, saying on Sunday that it presented “the opportunity for better European and international cooperation”.
On Thursday, a majority of parliament supported the accord, but the N-VA and far-right Vlaams Belang party voted against.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Steve Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, denounced the pact at an event hosted by Vlaams Belang in Brussels on Saturday.
“The country that signs the pact obviously signs a pact with the devil,” Le Pen said.
The draft UN accord lays down 23 objectives to open up legal migration and better manage a global flow of 250 million people, three per cent of the world population.
The United States dropped out of talks on the pact last year and countries including Italy, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Australia have rejected it.
The deal is expected to be ratified at the UN headquarters in New York on December 19.


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United Nations

Belgium lapses into minority government over UN migration pact

(L-R) Sander Loones is the Belgian Minister of Defence, Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon, Bart De Wever, New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) party leader, Belgium State Secretary for Poverty and Equal opportunities Zuhal Demir and Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum, Migration, member of NVA Party Theo Francken give a press conference after the NVA left the negotiation during a Minister Council in Brussels, Belgium, 08 December 2018. The NVA threatens to leave the Belgian government if Prime Minister Charles Michel goes to Marrakesh to defend the UN migration pact. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa07218521 Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel speaks at a press conference to announce that he will go to Marrakesh in Brussels, Belgium, 08 December 2018. Earlier in the day New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) party threatened to leave the government if Prime Minister Charles Michel will go to Marrakesh to defend the UN migration pact. According to reports, Michel announced that N-VA will no longer be part of the government and that he will form new coalition. EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

epa07218319 Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum, Migration, member of NVA Party Theo Francken during an NVA's press conference after the NVA left the negotiation during a Minister Council in Brussels, Belgium, 8 December 2018. The NVA threatens to leave the Belgian government if Prime Minister Charles Michel goes to Marrakesh to defend the UN migration pact. EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

European Union criticises Austria for not signing global migration pact backed by many countries

Policemen taking part in an exercise to prevent migrants from crossing the Austrian border from Slovenia in Spielfeld, Austria, in June. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 20, 2015, migrants walk behind a police car during their way from the Austrian-German border to a first registration hall of the German federal police in the small Bavarian village of Wegscheid, southern Germany. - Regional elections in Bavaria on October 14, 2018 take place under the shadow of the deeply polarising issue of immigration, as the state bordering Austria was the main gateway for more than a million asylum seekers who arrived in the country since 2015. (Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP)

FILE PHOTO: Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz attends a news conference in Vienna, Austria July 3, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

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Row has split the ruling coalition, with main party leaving after PM’s support over the controversial agreement


Row has split the ruling coalition, with main party leaving after PM’s support over the controversial agreement.


Belgium lapses into minority government over UN migration pact

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Row has split the ruling coalition, with main party leaving after PM’s support over the controversial agreement

Row has split the ruling coalition, with main party leaving after PM’s support over the controversial agreement