On Friday 16 December, the European Commission gave a positive assessment of the Swiss law implementing the referendum on mass immigration of 9 February 2014 as approved by the Swiss parliament.
Since the victory of the No vote in the Swiss referendum, Switzerland has had to find a balance between the requirement to set quotas for foreign workers in the country and respecting the free movement of people that has been in force with the European Union since 2002.
Following months of discussion and criticism from the European Commission or EU member states, the Swiss parliament approved a softer version of the referendum on Friday (see EUROPE 11631). It advocates measures to favour local labour in sectors susceptible to above-average unemployment but also relaxing employers' obligations.
In the view of Margaritis Schinas, the Commission spokesperson, "at first sight, it seems to us that the law really goes in the right direction". "It's a good sign that the law no longer aims to set up quotas on free movement for EU citizens and does not provide for restricting their access to work in Switzerland", when the initial drafts of the text provided for such quotas. Schinas warned, however, that "a law is only as strong as its enforcement".
The Commission will therefore now deepen its analysis of this law with the member states. A joint EU-Switzerland committee on Thursday 22 December will enable Switzerland to present this law and the member states to give their assessment of it.
The same day, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed with Switzerland's President Johann Schneider-Amman on Friday afternoon to discuss this law and the next stages of its enforcement, as well as its consequences for EU-Switzerland relations.
In the wake of this, the Swiss federal government in Bern has ratified the protocol extending free movement to Croatia – another Brussels-imposed condition. Switzerland will therefore now be able to participate fully again in the Horizon 2020 research programme.
The two sides are now due to continue other discussions, especially those on updating their bilateral relationship via an institutional agreement.
Unless the Swiss voters decide otherwise, that is. The Democratic Union of the Centre party (UDC, populist right), who initiated the 2014 referendum, immediately denounced the agreed text as violating the Swiss Constitution. In the UDC's view, the agreed text enacts Switzerland's capitulation to the EU. If the Swiss government does not respect the 2014 referendum vote, the UDC will launch a new initiative, this time aiming purely and simply to abolish the agreement with the EU on the free movement of people, the party warns. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)