Brussels, 04/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 4 November, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga were due to speak on the phone about the progress of discussions on free movement in the context of the Swiss referendum of February 2014 on limiting immigration - particularly from the EU.
At the start of 2015, Juncker and Sommaruga launched a political process on this issue, and technical level discussions have been held on a regular basis since. The respective positions nevertheless remain opposed - with the EU not wanting to hear about quotas or any challenge to the 2002 free movement agreement, but with the Swiss government having to find a solution that responds to the referendum result of February 2014 (despite wanting to respect the bilateral free movement agreement). The Swiss mission to the EU did not want to comment on the content of these confidential discussions. “There is no solution at this stage”, a European source said ahead of the phonecall between Juncker and Sommaruga. “The Swiss side is still talking about quotas. We will see if the position is more open”, this source said.
The Swiss government is due to bring forward a draft law in early 2016, implementing the referendum result. On 9 February 2014, Swiss voters approved - by 50.3% of the votes - the UDC initiative “against mass immigration”, which required the introduction of quotas for foreigners going to live or work on Swiss territory by 2017. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)