EU ambassador warns over immigration vote

EU ambassador to Bern Richard Jones recalled that free circulation was a fundamental right Keystone

Bilateral accords between the European Union and Switzerland could be endangered if the Swiss people vote in favour of a controversial rightwing initiative to curb mass immigration, warns the European Union’s ambassador to Bern.

In an interview with Swiss national television on Saturday evening, Richard Jones said Switzerland would have to revoke the bilateral agreement on the free movement of persons accord if Swiss people accepted the Swiss People’s Party’s initiative to limit mass immigration on February 9. This would have a knock-on effect and mean the cancelling of other bilateral accords between Switzerland and the 27-country bloc, he added.

He told the Tagesschau news programme that if the Swiss authorities failed to react, the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers would not stand by idly.

“But both myself and the entire EU believe that Switzerland would assume the consequences of such a decision,” he commented.

Immigration remains a hot issue in Switzerland. The People’s Party initiative “against mass immigration” on February 9 seeks to amend the constitution and set annual quotas on permits granted to foreigners in Switzerland, where unemployment is just over 3% compared to more than 12% in the euro zone.

In November the Swiss government urged voters to reject quotas on immigrants from EU countries, saying the People’s Party initiative would harm the economy and strain relations.

The February vote will be followed later in 2014 by votes on limiting foreigners and extending the free movement of people to Croatia.

Jones recalled that free circulation is a fundamental right. He added that new negotiations between Switzerland and the EU were excluded.

A yes-vote in favour of the immigration initiative would not stop ongoing negotiations about institutional matters between the EU and Switzerland, however.

“But we would undoubtedly be in a difficult situation,” Jones went on, adding he was confident that the Swiss would reject the initiative.

Swiss-EU relations

Switzerland is not part of the EU, but it concluded more than 120 bilateral accords with member countries on a broad range of issues. They include the 1972 free trade treaty and the 1999 free movement of people accord, regulating access to the labour markets of Switzerland and the 27-nation bloc.

Its immigration policy is based on free movement of people with the EU and allowing a restricted number of non-EU citizens to enter the country. The number of foreigners from EU countries living in Switzerland rose 4.6 percent in the year to August to 1.23 million, data from the Swiss Federal Migration Office shows.

Under domestic pressure to stem immigration, the Swiss government last year decided to limit the number of workers from eight eastern EU member states.