Almost in the last moment, only 4 days before the UN conference in Marrakesh, Saeima, the Latvian Parliament voted on the UN Migration Pact.

The debate was lengthy but Saeima, having been given autonomy over the decision in the cabinet, voted 43 to 31 to reject signing the Pact. 

In this, Latvia is not following the example of the two other Baltic countries, Estonia and Lithuania.

The Estonian parliament voted to join the Pact a few days ago. 

The Lithuanian Government will send a minister to Marrakesh and will approve of the Pact—but it will not sign it. Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said on Wednesday:

A minister will participate in the conference, express approval of the UN pact… Nothing will be signed by the minister.

Like in many other respects, the UN Migration Pact is unclear even about the acceptance procedure: does it even need to be signed? The web site euobserver says that it will not be signed: acceptance by a country is simply indicated by a declaration of a representative of the country (given that it is not a treaty). 

If the latter is the case, why the insistence of the Lithuanian Government that it will “not sign it”, only “express approval” for it. Maybe to allay concerns about the Pact in the population?