Brussels, 10/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - A further referendum in Switzerland on relations with the EU and European immigration in particular is “inevitable, probably in late 2016”, the European diplomat Maciej Popowski, deputy secretary general of the EEAS, said on Friday 10 April, in the columns of the Swiss newspaper La Liberté, EuObserver reports. More than a year after the vote calling for a reduction of European immigration onto Swiss soil, the diplomat said that Switzerland should “change its mindset” and consider the “enormous advantages” provided by the single market.
The Swiss government has already floated the hypothesis of putting Switzerland-EU relations to the vote once again towards the end of 2016 or early 2017, following negotiations on the institutional framework agreement. However, the EU is threatening to denounce the freedom of movement agreement before then, if quotas for European workers are introduced, as required by the result of the referendum of 9 February 2014, which would mean the cancellation of a raft of so-called “I” bilateral agreements under the “guillotine clause”. These agreements deal with the provisions on obstacles to trade, research, agriculture, public procurement and land and air transport.
In February of this year, the two parties decided to start discussions at political level to try to clear the ground, although their respective positions seem to be a long way apart, as the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the President of the Confederation, Simonetta Sommaruga, stressed on 2 February. (Solenn Paulic)