Cabinet immigration move ‘is no Plan B’

Swiss newspapers have roundly criticised cabinet plans for implementing immigration curbs voted on by the people in 2014. Many took up the economic minister’s earlier refrain that it was a “task tantamount to squaring the circle”. The government’s plans would see a safeguard clause introduced to curb immigration, whereby Switzerland claims the right to limit free access to the labour market due to serious economic or social problems. It also provides for annual limits set by the cabinet on the number of permits issued to people from EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries if immigration exceeds a certain threshold. This ‘Plan B’ by the government has been drawn up after two years of hand-wringing over the implications curbs would have on Swiss-EU bilateral relations. The EU – which has yet to comment on the Swiss development – has warned that any immigration caps are incompatible with the principle of the free movement of people, one of the key …