Swiss bring back quotas to control EU immigration
Baku, April 25 (AZERTAC). Switzerland said it will reintroduce quotas for European Union workers, bowing to growing unease about immigration from poorer neighbors, in a decision Brussels says violates an accord.
Prosperous, landlocked Switzerland has seen the net influx of workers rise to up to 80,0000 a year, contributing to a house price bubble and prompting criticism from right-wing parties.
The Swiss Federal Council said on Wednesday the quotas, effective for 12 months, will apply to eight central and eastern European countries including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
They will likely be extended to a further 17 countries in western and southern Europe in June, it added.
Under the terms of the 1999 Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons, non-EU Switzerland may invoke a "safeguard clause" which allows temporary caps on work permits if the annual influx exceeds a certain number.
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