Brussels, 24/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution, which sharply criticises the measures it considers discriminatory and illegal, taken by the Swiss authorities against citizens of Central and Eastern Europe. A month after the Swiss Federal Council decision to activate its safeguard clause and limit the number of work permits granted to the nationals of eight EU member states (Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic), the European Parliament has adopted a resolution “on Swiss quotas on the number of residence permits granted” by a very large majority of 486 votes in favour, 30 against, with 27 abstentions, during the plenary session in Strasbourg.
The Parliament thus “highly regrets that the Swiss authorities decided to re-establish quantitative limitations on the long-term residence permits granted to EU citizens who are nationals of eight of the member states that joined the EU in 2004, thus limiting the free movement of people as provided for in the 1999 agreement with the EU.” At the end of the vote, Rafa³ Trzaskowski (EPP, Poland) said that “Polish or Czech workers cannot be treated as second class citizens of the EU”. Other measures taken by the Swiss authorities are also criticised in the resolution. These include measures that in particular target Bulgarian and Romanian nationals. Although in a 2008 protocol, Switzerland includes the right to freedom of movement for Bulgaria and Romania, these two countries' nationals are subject to transition periods of up to 7 years.
Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) stated in a press statement that “the national quotas introduced recently are not the only problem we face in relations with Switzerland. The Parliament addressed them already two years ago, pointing out that EU entrepreneurs were facing numerous problems when trying to operate in Switzerland. Not much has changed since then.” In the resolution just adopted, the Parliament also expresses concerns about the different obstacles to full implementation of the single market, which is also affected by so-called Swiss accompaniment measures that make the exercise of an economic activity in Switzerland for EU companies difficult. (JK/transl.fl)