Brussels, 11/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 11 February, reactions continued to flood in, two days after the “yes vote” by Swiss citizens to restrict immigration in their country, including that from Europe. On Monday 10 February, the European Commission response measured but by Tuesday morning it confirmed that it was to freeze the ongoing technical discussions on electricity (see other article) and research and had cancelled a meeting on the subject planned for this week. Other reprisals are possible too: postponing Coreper's vote planned for Thursday 13 February on the negotiating mandate for an institutional agreement with Switzerland. While the latter already has such a mandate, “the Council is likely to postpone”, explained a source from one of the major countries bordering Switzerland.
This framework agreement would simplify relations linking the EU and Switzerland, relations which have hitherto been based essentially on bilateral agreements. Both the Council and Commission would like more clarity about Switzerland's intentions before going ahead with this mandate. On Monday, the European Commission, paradoxically, called on the Council to continue with discussions and adopt this mandate. One source pointed out that, “obviously, the Commission has been caught short because its position is not very clear”
The fact of the matter is that the ball is still in Switzerland's court and it is only on Wednesday 12 February that the government will draw up its first conclusions on the vote that took place on 9 February. The government will have to clarify what it intends to do with regard to extending its agreements with the EU to Croatian citizens. The legislative process has been launched and an agreement on Croatia was reached in autumn but was not signed. The vote on 9 February, however, now prevents Switzerland from continuing with this procedure. The same clarification will be needed with regard to the research and Erasmus agreements, which contain conditions on their being extended to Croatian citizens.
The federal government could therefore provide the first indications, even though the draft law containing the contents of the initiative brought to the vote by the UDC will only come later this year. Sources in Switzerland have said that all this would take time and that, for the moment, “cross-border workers have nothing to fear”.
Sunday's vote, however, provoked a number of concerns at the European Parliament and at the Committee of the Regions, where mayors and representatives from the local authorities meeting in Brussels pointed out that the principle of free movement was non-negotiable. The ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) said that the vote would have many repercussions and the EU should deliver a “firm response” to any decision resulting from this vote.
Currently, more than one million European citizens live in Switzerland and 230,000 people cross the border every day to work there. Around 430,000 Swiss citizens live in the European Union.
The EU is still by far Switzerland's most important trading partner, pointed out the Commission on Monday evening, accounting for 17% of its imports and 57% of exported goods in 2011. In the field of business services and direct foreign investment, the EU's share is also predominant. The Commission also pointed out the high level of Switzerland's integration in the European internal market and the mutual interest linking the two sides. (SP/transl.fl)