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Saturday, September 26, 2020
The right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party is again launching an initiative to limit immigration. With a referendum he wants to get out of an agreement concluded in 1999. According to this, EU citizens can live and work freely in Switzerland.
The Swiss are speaking in a referendum this Sunday on a wide range of issues ranging from a hunting law reform to paid paternity leave. An initiative by the populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) could have serious effects on the relationship with the EU: it envisages that the country will withdraw from the principle of free movement of EU citizens.
According to the latest polls, the initiative of the strongest party in parliament has little chance of success: it is rejected by around 65 percent of the Swiss Confederation. The government, parliament, political parties, trade unions and the employers’ association also ask no.
But the surprising, if extremely small majority in favor of a similar advance by the executive vice president in 2014 urges caution with the outlook. At the time, she called for the reintroduction of immigration quotas, both for asylum seekers and for EU citizens. In this way, the SVP hoped to annul an agreement concluded with Brussels in 1999, according to which EU citizens can also live and work freely in Switzerland.
EU: “Non-negotiable” free movement
The new popular initiative “for moderate immigration (limitation initiative)” goes a step further: under the slogan “too much is too much”, the SVP now specifically calls for the agreement to be withdrawn. If the Swiss vote in favor of the proposal, the Berne government will only have one year to negotiate the exit with Brussels. If an agreement cannot be reached, she must rescind the agreement within 30 days.
The 2014 vote had already upset the EU. Among other things, Brussels noted that Switzerland had only had access to the EU internal market as a non-member due to the free movement of people. The free movement of citizens is a “heart” of relations between the EU and Switzerland and is therefore not “negotiable”.
Only after lengthy negotiations did the Bern government find a way out: since 2016, Swiss employers have had to give preference to local job seekers when hiring, but the obstacles to hiring EU citizens are not too high. With its new initiative, the SVP now wants to eliminate those back doors.
Serious consequences for the economy
The Berne government warns against a unilateral termination of freedom of movement for EU citizens: in this case, a so-called guillotine clause would automatically apply, suspending a whole package of agreements between Brussels and Berne, with serious consequences for the Swiss economy. . According to political observers, Brussels’ steadfastness in principles caused many voters to rethink.
In addition to the SVP’s “limitation initiative”, the Swiss have to vote on a number of other bills: among other things, they have to decide whether the Confederation can buy new fighter jets for up to six billion francs ( 5.6 billion euros) and that approved by parliament. two weeks of paid paternity leave must be taken off. A new hunting law that relaxes the protection of wolves is also under review.
