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Voters rejected by 61.7% the popular initiative launched by the populist right of the SVP, advances the agency France-Presse. The country’s largest party denounces “uncontrolled and disproportionate immigration” and maintains that jobs in Switzerland are threatened by the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons, signed in 1999 with the European Union.
The rejected proposal, “Moderate Immigration Initiative”, wanted the Swiss government to suspend this existing bilateral agreement with the EU on the free movement of people. and take full control of the country’s immigration policy.
The turnout rate in the referendum was around 59% of the voters. To be approved, the proposal would have to gather the consensus of the majority of voters, but also of the 26 Swiss cantons.
In a sentence, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, considered the result of the vote positive.
“The Swiss vote validates one of the central pillars of our relationship: mutual freedom to move, live and work in Switzerland and the European Union. I welcome this result. I see it as a positive sign to continue consolidating and deepening our relationship.” , he stated.
About 1.4 million citizens of the European Union live in Switzerland and about 450,000 Swiss live in European Union countries. There are still some 320,000 citizens of the European Union who cross the border every day to work in Switzerland, adds the president of the European executive.
After this referendum, Brussels now hopes to meet with Bern to conclude the institutional agreement that aims to facilitate bilateral relations, but the agreement that began to be negotiated in 2018 is far from reaching a consensus in Switzerland.
