Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel's government is on the brink of collapse | | Benoit Doppagne/AFP via Getty Images Belgium’s N-VA: We won’t quit government or back UN pact Charles Michel asks parliament to vote on international migration accord that has divided his government.

Belgium's largest political party said it won't quit the government but will vote against signing an international migration agreement.

A Belgian parliamentary committee voted Wednesday to support the U.N.’s Global Compact on Migration, a ballot called by Prime Minister Charles Michel in a bid to stop the government collapsing. Michel received the support of opposition parties to reach a broad majority, but his main coalition party, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), voted against the deal.

The parliament will vote on the deal in a plenary session Thursday.

Despite their objections to the migration pact, the Flemish nationalists said they have no plans to leave the governing coalition.

"We're four parties in the government. There is still a lot of work to be done. We hope this government continues," Peter De Roover, the N-VA's parliamentary leader, said Wednesday.

Government parties are at odds over whether parliamentary approval means Michel can sign the deal on behalf of Belgium at a summit next week.

De Roover on Wednesday stressed that the decision whether or not to endorse the global pact had to be made by the government as a whole. The N-VA is the largest party in the coalition.

"The constitution says it has to be a government decision," De Roover said.

Several constitutional experts have weighed and supported the N-VA's argument, telling local media the prime minister can't officially sign the U.N. pact without the support of all coalition partners, including the N-VA.

Michel said he will go to Marrakech, Morocco next week to give the country's position on the pact at a U.N. migration summit. But the N-VA's refusal to sign had brought his government to the brink of collapse.

“Parliament is the house of democracy … I’m convinced the moment has come for parliament to make a choice,” he said at a press conference Tuesday.

The U.N. pact, which is non-binding, sets out a “cooperative framework” for dealing with international migration. Signatories agree, for example, to limit the pressure on countries with many migrants and to promote the self-reliance of newcomers.

Several European countries including Poland, Hungary, Italy and Austria have pulled out of the U.N. migration pact. Others, including Denmark and the Netherlands, struggled to deliver full-throated support for the deal.

Michel had previously committed to signing it, even mentioning it in a speech at the United Nations in September.

“Our credibility is on the line,” Michel said Tuesday. “We’re a member of the [U.N.] Security Council. We have a strong reputation in Europe.”

If the N-VA was to leave the government, it would leave Michel without a majority in parliament and potentially trigger an early election in the new year. Belgium currently faces regional, federal and European elections in 2019.

This article has been updated.