Brussels, 20/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - In an interview on Sunday 19 January, European Commissioner for Justice and Fundamental Rights Viviane Reding sent a warning to Switzerland ahead of its vote on 9 February on limiting European immigration. Reported by ATS, the commissioner from Luxembourg saidin the interview with the Schweiz am Sonntag weekly newspaper that the “EU internal market comes as a whole and Switzerland can not pick and choose as it pleases”.
Reding said access to the internal market cannot be separated from the fundamental freedoms resulting from bilateral agreements. She also pointed out that the free movement of people is not a one-way street: some 430,000 Swiss nationals are currently living in the EU, she pointed out. According to the commissioner, strong immigration in Switzerland corresponds to a need and the country's economy could not function without foreign labour.
According to Reding, only 3.7% of EU citizens receive welfare benefits in Switzerland, as opposed to 4% of Swiss nationals, showing, she said, the fears of Swiss citizens to be unfounded. (SP/transl.fl)