Brussels, 23/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Faced with rising immigration from the EU, Switzerland must decide, on Wednesday 24 April, whether it will, or not, activate a safeguard clause under the 2002 agreements on freedom of movement, several media reported early this week. The clause, which provides quotas for the issue of long duration work permits, was already activated in May 2012 for eight member states (of Eastern Europe) and could, this time, concern the 17 other member states (the 15 “older” member states as well as Malta and Cyprus). Bulgaria and Romania are already under a restricted regime until May 2016. This discussion will take place on Wednesday at the Federal Council, the Swiss mission to the EU confirmed on Tuesday 23 April, refusing, however, to forecast the outcome of the government meeting. The Federal Council should first and foremost examine immigration figures, explains Raphael Saborit, the spokesperson for the mission, and ascertain, for example, whether the threshold of an increase equivalent to 10% of the average over the past three years has been reached. The spokesperson went on to say that a whole series of criteria must be met in order to be able to activate the clause. Since 2007, when freedom of movement for EU workers took full effect, there has undeniably been an increase in immigration, the Swiss mission said. Switzerland notches up between 60,000 and 80,000 entries by migrants every year.
Bern must, moreover, activate the clause by end May 2014, when freedom of movement becomes total and irreversible under the 2002 agreements. Discussion has at any rate come early over recent months with increasingly open debates on abuse by European nationals, mainly with regard to the granting of social benefits. Criticism, moreover, partially aims at the nationals of southern countries in crisis, such as Portugal, Italy and Spain. Those nationals are suspected of remaining in Switzerland in order to enjoy more generous social allowances than in their countries of origin.
If the clause in question is to be activated, it will mean the suppression of around 3,000 permits out of an annual 55,000, Saborit says. The Swiss mission also points out that, if the clause were activated, then it would only last one year at most, until 1 June 2014, when Switzerland will no longer be able to reintroduce measures of this kind. Contacted on Tuesday, the European External Action Service (EEAS) had not yet given its response to this. When asked about the subject in March, the EEAS stated that the question of abuse by European nationals had never been raised in joint committee. (SP/transl.jl)