The Swiss people once again have voted
contrary to the wishes of their government. On Sunday Feb. 9, by a country-wide referendum, some 50.3% of the
voters – just 30,000 more votes
than the contrary, backed a
proposal by one of the minor political parties to have quotas for immigrants.
This will require the government
to renegotiate treaties with the European Union countries, a very awkward situation. For until then citizens from
most EU members states could freely move to and work in Switzerland, just as the Swiss could do so within
most EU states.
Many business groups
have complained about the result, suggesting that jobs could be compromised,
but the majority of the Swiss were not swayed. They seemingly fear that
increasing number of immigrants are not good for their federation; some point
to an especially large number of new Muslim immigrants as being part of the
problem. Switzerland’s healthy economy and high salaries had, it seems, caused about ¼ of all the 8 million
people now living there to come in, in recent years, from other countries. Indeed, according to the National Post
article of Feb. 11, some 80,000 people had moved to little Switzerland just
last year.
Regardless, once
again the Swiss people have made their opinions felt. Whether or not the end result will cause them undue
problems, only time will tell. But the peoples’ voices are what count in
Switzerland. No doubt many of the 26 EU states which have encouraged increased
movement of peoples, will be considerably dismayed. Brussells has already voiced annoyance. They will try to find ways to penalize the Swiss
– which must negotiate all treaties on a bilateral basis. This is because it
previously had chosen (by a previous citizen vote) not to officially be a part of the
actual Union.
