Switzerland heads for EU immigration climbdown

Switzerland aims to settle a long-running conflict with the EU over free movement of people by rejecting immigration quotas approved in a referendum.

In what would be a significant climbdown, Swiss parliamentarians are expected on Friday to approve a carefully crafted package of measures aimed at boosting the employment prospects of locals without violating the country’s deal with the EU to allow free movement.

Switzerland has been agonising over how to implement the results of the 2014 referendum, when voters narrowly backed quotas on immigration from neighbouring EU countries.

Although surrounded by the EU, the affluent Alpine country has long resisted joining the bloc, instead gaining access to its markets via more than 120 bilateral contracts, including an agreement on free movement of people.

Switzerland’s attempts to implement stronger immigration controls have implications for the UK’s plans to leave the EU, and in particular how post-Brexit Britain might reconcile a desire for strong trade links with its own curbs on movement of people.

“We have created a Swiss exception — but tried to conform with the rules of the game, so it’s not actually an exception,” said Max Stern, co-founder of Foraus, a Swiss foreign policy forum. “It is certainly not a blueprint — the UK would not be happy with something like this.”

The EU’s formal reaction is not expected until next week. Its blessing for the measures is not guaranteed and Brussels could still threaten to sever trading ties with Switzerland.

As part of the measures finalised this week by the two houses of the Swiss parliament, employers in regions or sectors with high unemployment would have to advertise in local jobcentres before recruiting outside Switzerland. There would also be obligations to interview job-centre-approved applications.

But to the anger of the ultra-conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP) — the country’s most popular political group, which backed the 2014 campaign — there is no mention of quotas on immigration.

Thomas Burgherr, a SVP member of the lower house of parliament, warned that the package amounted to an “unprecedented violation” of Switzerland’s constitution following the 2014 referendum.

Switzerland’s strong economy attracts workers from other countries, with more than 300,000 cross-border commuters from Germany, France, Austria and Italy.

Simonetta Sommaruga, the Swiss justice minister, said the legislation process was “unsatisfactory” but she believed it conformed with Switzerland’s bilateral agreements with the EU. Parliament had signalled “it wants to continue with the bilateral”, she said.

Brussels’ formal reaction will depend on whether it believes the steps discriminate against non-Swiss nationals — but also on the implications for future Brexit negotiations with the UK.

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, will be reluctant to add a conflict with Bern to the list of problems facing the EU, which benefits from its economic relations with Switzerland.

Nevertheless, he will be wary of the EU allowing a non-member state too much flexibility in re-negotiating unilaterally its relationship with the EU because of the example it could set for the UK.

The Bern government also faces the threat of a fresh voter revolt over immigration controls in a future referendum, which are binding in Switzerland and give ultimate sovereignty to the country’s voters.

The SVP appears likely to push for a referendum on the principle of Swiss laws having precedence over foreign treaties, while the SVP’s opponents have called for a poll to reverse the 2014 referendum.

The government believes that initiative would be unlikely to succeed. Instead ministers are expected — possibly as early as Friday — to propose their own wording for a vote to ensure that this week’s measures are compatible with the Swiss constitution.

A referendum may not take place until late next year, after the UK’s Brexit negotiations with the EU start.