© Frederic Legrand / Shutterstock.com



German AfD MP Markus Frohnmaier says he is most disconcerted by the latest developments. Piled up on his desk, is a mountain of papers with the headers showing the logo of the United Nations."Every MP of Europe, every MEP and even every mayor should be forced to read this", says 27-year-old Frohnmaier, one of the youngest deputies in the Bundestag.In September 2017, he was elected to parliament on the list of the Eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). "If there had not been the AfD in the German parliament, no other political force would dare to criticise this monstrous document.". They have both declared that they would not sign the Global Compact."This document will enforce migration to Europe. It is open-border propaganda on steroids," says Frohnmaier. The young politician is part of a European alliance of politicians of sovereignist conservatives who have been organising the political opposition against the "crazy concoction" as Frohnmaier calls the final draft of the Global Compact.The draft for the Global Compact took 18 months to finalise and was approved in July by 191 UN member nations except the United States, which pulled out last year saying it was "inconsistent with US immigration and refugee policies".Hungary resisted as well. "This document is entirely against Hungary's security interests," said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. He described the Compact as an "extreme" measure, which was also "biased and facilitated migration".And he added: "This pact poses a threat to the world as it could inspire millions [of migrants]."Peter Szijjarto is succinct in his condemnation: "Its main premise is that migration is a good and inevitable phenomenon. We consider migration a bad process, which has extremely serious security implications."Frohnmaier agrees: "This document is a smoke screen. It describes migration as a pure enrichment for Europe and totally ignores any negative effects on our societies."The starting point for the Global Compact was a summit on flight and migration that took place under the aegis of the UN in September 2016, with Barack Obama issuing the invitation.In contrast to refugee policy, where there are specific global and regional (protection) conventions. The UN refugee body, the UNHCR only monitors observance, as there is no global or UN migration organisation with one set of rules for migration.The Global Compact for Migration, which essentially comprises 23 goals, claims to focus on protection, the rights and improved living and working conditions of migrants and their families.Civil society organisations in particular were successful in promoting their goals in the negotiating process. Moreover, the Compact calls for improved data management regarding international migration processes, while it envisions probing economic, environmental as well as political causes of forced migration.The Compact aims to create a global framework for managing migration, called a "non-legally binding, cooperative framework" to encourage "international cooperation among all relevant actors on migration, acknowledging that no state can address migration alone, and upholds the sovereignty of states and their obligations under international law".But the term "non-legally binding" has riled critics such as Frohnmaier. For him such terms are just "soft liberal poetry, a chill pill for those who do not agree with the scandalous content of the Compact".The circle of opponents is growing day by day. Austria's vice chancellor and leader of the conservative Freedom Party, Heinz Christian Strache, said in an interview with the Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung: "Migration should never become a human right."Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini from the anti-immigration Lega, may not be signing the controversial document either.But why do so many European and especially German lawmakers support or at least seem wholly unmoved by the Global Compact? Markus Frohnmaier suggests that it is because his European colleagues are so ill-informed: "I doubt that most of the MPs especially from the mainstream parties know about the content of the document. And many of those who know at least the name of the Global Compact, might think it includes a strategy to address the causes of migration."The young German politician, who is also a member of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Bundestag, doubts too that the Global Compact includes any positive outcomes for the migrants' countries of origin."This is a deeply naïve, almost religious credo of the migration lobby. The opposite will happen: the Global Contract will encourage masses of especially young people to leave their home countries because they believe they will have a better life in Europe. This will drain - and not strengthen - the developing economies in the countries of origin."The Inter-Governmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Migration will take place in Marrakech, Morocco on the 10th and 11th of December. Most of the European states will sign the document there.The Conference will be convened under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly, held pursuant to resolution 71/1 of 19 September 2016, entitled "New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants," which decided to launch a process of intergovernmental negotiations leading to the adoption of the Compact.Is this the end of borders as we know it? Frohnmaier shakes his head: "The last word has not yet been spoken."The young politician is convinced that opposition to such a notion is gathering speed: "More and more Europeans will vote in future for political forces rejecting the open border policy. This process is ongoing and unstoppable."And the adopted Global Compact? Frohnmaier smiles ruefully: "A piece of paper."