Iago
Thu, 29th Sep '05, 7:57pm
In a referendum, 56 percent of voters backed government plans to open the labor market in stages to the 10 mainly East European nations that joined the European Union in May 2004.
The vote Sunday was the first in which West European citizens have approved measures to open the door to workers from Eastern Europe through a referendum. The yes vote in Switzerland, which is not an EU member, comes amid growing discontent among nations like Germany and France about immigration from Eastern Europe.
"Switzerland has expressed its approval of the enlargement of the EU through this popular vote," said Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland's foreign minister.
José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said in a statement Sunday, "I warmly congratulate the Swiss decision to extend the benefit of the free movement of people to all inhabitants of the European Union."
...
Behind the isolationist image, however, Switzerland has become one of the more open economies on the Continent, analysts say.
About a fifth of Switzerland's seven million people are foreigners, one of the largest proportions in Europe.
As a small country, Switzerland has had to rely on guest workers to a greater degree than other European countries, said René Schwok, a professor at Geneva University's European Institute.
"Swiss voters know the prosperity of Switzerland is linked to immigration," Schwok said.
Still, Switzerland, like its EU neighbors, has also seen a rising wave of opposition recently to foreign workers amid sluggish economic growth and higher unemployment.
As in France and the Netherlands, where voters rejected a new EU constitution, the Swiss voiced concern during campaigning for the referendum Sunday that increased competition with East European workers would lead to job losses. Only Ireland, Sweden and Britain have fully opened their labor markets to the EU's new members since they joined last year.
Like many other EU countries, Switzerland has chosen to keep quota restrictions on East European workers until 2011, when they will be phased out.
EconomieSuisse, a federation of Swiss businesses, welcomed the vote, calling it a positive step for a country that does so much business outside its borders He, that's positive! Isn't it? We want to brain your drain, Chevy!
from this one (http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/25/news/swiss.php)
The vote Sunday was the first in which West European citizens have approved measures to open the door to workers from Eastern Europe through a referendum. The yes vote in Switzerland, which is not an EU member, comes amid growing discontent among nations like Germany and France about immigration from Eastern Europe.
"Switzerland has expressed its approval of the enlargement of the EU through this popular vote," said Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland's foreign minister.
José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said in a statement Sunday, "I warmly congratulate the Swiss decision to extend the benefit of the free movement of people to all inhabitants of the European Union."
...
Behind the isolationist image, however, Switzerland has become one of the more open economies on the Continent, analysts say.
About a fifth of Switzerland's seven million people are foreigners, one of the largest proportions in Europe.
As a small country, Switzerland has had to rely on guest workers to a greater degree than other European countries, said René Schwok, a professor at Geneva University's European Institute.
"Swiss voters know the prosperity of Switzerland is linked to immigration," Schwok said.
Still, Switzerland, like its EU neighbors, has also seen a rising wave of opposition recently to foreign workers amid sluggish economic growth and higher unemployment.
As in France and the Netherlands, where voters rejected a new EU constitution, the Swiss voiced concern during campaigning for the referendum Sunday that increased competition with East European workers would lead to job losses. Only Ireland, Sweden and Britain have fully opened their labor markets to the EU's new members since they joined last year.
Like many other EU countries, Switzerland has chosen to keep quota restrictions on East European workers until 2011, when they will be phased out.
EconomieSuisse, a federation of Swiss businesses, welcomed the vote, calling it a positive step for a country that does so much business outside its borders He, that's positive! Isn't it? We want to brain your drain, Chevy!
from this one (http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/25/news/swiss.php)