Swiss voters on Sunday backed proposals to reintroduce immigration quotas with the European Union, Swiss television reported - a result that calls into question bilateral accords with the EU and could irk multinational companies. Some 50.3 percent backed the "Stop mass immigration" initiative. The outcome obliges the government to turn the initiative into law withing three years.
While neutral Switzerland is not a member of the EU,
its immigration policy is based on free movement of citizens to and from
the EU, with some exceptions, as well as allowing in a restricted
number of non-EU citizens.
That pact on free movement of
people, which came into force 12 years ago, was signed as part of a
package of agreements with the EU, some of which could now be in danger
of unravelling, to say nothing of the effect on a globally oriented
economy that employs large numbers of foreign professionals.
