Swiss vote to curb immigration in referendum
Baku, February 10 (AZERTAC). Switzerland voted in favor of new immigration curbs, risking a backlash from the European Union and thwarting the ability of companies to hire top talent internationally.
The measure, which requires the government to set an upper limit for foreigners, was supported by 50.3% of voters, SRF television figures showed as of 5:02 p.m. local time on Sunday. Voters in the cities of Zurich and Basel and cantons in western Switzerland opposed the measures, while those in rural German-speaking cantons and the Italian-speaking region of Ticino backed it, SRF said.
Immigration has supported economic growth, and the EU bloc is Switzerland’s top export destination. Roughly a fifth of its 8 million inhabitants come from abroad. About 45% of employees in its chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry are foreigners, according to science industries, an association whose members include drug makers Roche Holding AG and Novartis AG, and food company Nestle SA.
“We do need to hire talented individuals,” Credit Suisse Group AG chief executive officer Brady Dougan told reporters on 6 February. Having access to talent is something that’s important for all the businesses here.
In the run-up to the vote, the initiative against mass immigration pitted companies small and large against the euro-skeptic Swiss People’s Party SVP, the biggest in the lower house of parliament. Corporations argued they need top talent from around the world to maintain their competitive edge, while critics, many of them members of the SVP, said the flood of newcomers is leading to worse working conditions, crowded trains and a housing shortage.
The vote also risks creating a rift between Switzerland and the EU, its biggest trading partner. The decision to open the borders 12 years ago was negotiated as part of a package of agreements that allow Swiss companies access to the common market, the government has warned.
According to European Commission president Jose Barroso, the free movement of persons was of fundamental importance and cannot be separated from the free exchange of goods, services and capital. Within the framework of the bilateral agreement there are certain legal consequences, Barroso told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung in an interview last November.
That’s the open question—one doesn’t know what the EU will do, said Andreas Ladner, professor of public administration at the University of Lausanne. The EU has indicated that the initiative violates its free movement of people and won’t be tolerated.
According to Thomas Kern, chief executive officer of Zurich Airport, a yes to the vote could even jeopardize the country’s aviation industry by forcing the re-negotiation of landing rights. A lot is at stake, he told the newspaper Blick in an interview published on 7 February.
In response about public unease about the number of newcomers, the government already enacted yearlong curbs on residence permits for citizens of EU countries including Germany and France. There are also quotas for citizens of non-EU countries such as Australia and Canada.
In a sign of how anxious the Swiss population is about foreigners, another initiative, which would cap the immigration rate at 0.2% of the resident population, is in the pipeline.
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