Switzerland is considering withdrawing from the agreement

[JustJohn or JJ]

Switzerland is considering withdrawing from the agreement with the EU
Date: Saturday, 5-Dec-2015 08:02:22


Switzerland threatened the EU that could introduce unilateral measures in immigration policy.

Switzerland, a country where foreigners make up a quarter of the population, has threatened that it could introduce unilateral measures in immigration policy if the European Union agreed to limits that are binding referendum results in 2014.

After months of tough negotiations, Bern and Brussels have not agreed to apply the measures voted in a referendum in 2014 in which the Swiss voters voted for the introduction of immigration quotas.

Brussels is difficult to offer a preferential agreement Switzerland, the non-EU until you accept a similar request of Great Britain, a member of the Union and wants to limit immigration from other EU countries.

"If you do not find a solution, we will be ready to suspend part or all of the bilateral agreements," said Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter.

Switzerland is the European Union, which is its largest trading partner, signed a series of bilateral agreements.

At a press conference Burkhalter said that the government requested that the Ministry of Justice making unilateral measures to restrict immigration to March 2016, if by then fails to agree with the EU.

The deadline for the introduction of quotas

Switzerland has more than a year to introduce immigration quotas on the outcome of the referendum shall be binding in February 2014.

Approximately 1.3 million EU citizens are already living in the Swiss Confederation, and 300,000 of them cross the border daily, because working in Switzerland.

In 2014, almost 111,000 residents from the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein immigrated to Switzerland.

If Switzerland decides to implement unilateral measures, the EU could cancel the bilateral agreements, which would have serious consequences for the Swiss economy, economists warn.

Source: Agencies

[pieter]

I very well understand why John. The Swiss were always a neutral, independent and free nation. Swiss people are very on their own, but also welcoming to foreign visitors, from tourists to expats, from people who come to international gatherings in Switzerland to people who come for wintersport or who are related to Swiss nationals.



Swiss people don't like foreign interference in their own internal affairs. As a foreign national it is not easy to integrate or assimilate into the Swiss society. Swiss people are very European, very Alpine mountain people, Southern-German like the Austrians and Bavarians (the Swiss Germans) and a little bit French and Italian. Merge the ideas of the French Front National, the Italian Lega Nord, the Austrian FPÖ and ÖVP, and the German CSU, Alternative for Germany and the NPD and you have Switzerland. The Switzeland of the The Swiss People's Party (SVP) (German: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; Romansh: Partida populara Svizra, PPS) of Christoph Blocher and Toni Brunner. The party focuses itself on issues such as euroscepticism and opposition to mass immigration. The Zürich-oriented wing led by Christoph Blocher represented a new radical right-wing populist agenda in the nineties, while the Bern-oriented faction represented the old moderate style.


Christoph Blocher (born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss politician, industrialist, and former member of the Swiss Federal Council heading the Federal Department of Justice and Police (2004–2007). He serves as vice president of the Swiss People's Party. As an industrialist, he became very wealthy as CEO and majority shareholder in the EMS-Chemie corporation, now run by his daughter, Magdalena Martullo-Blocher.

The Zürich wing began to politicise asylum issues, and the question of European integration started to dominate Swiss political debates. They also adopted more confrontational methods. The Zürich-wing followingly started to gain ground in the party at the expense of the Bern-wing, and the party became increasingly centralised as a national party, in contrast to the traditional Swiss system of parties with loose organisational structures and weak central powers. During the 1990s, the party also doubled its number of cantonal branches (to eventually be represented in all cantons), which strengthened the power of the Zürich-wing since most new sections supported their agenda.

The SVP adheres to national conservatism, aiming at the preservation of Switzerland's political sovereignty and a conservative society. Furthermore, the party promotes the principle of individual responsibility and is skeptical toward any expansion of governmental services. This stance is most evident in the rejection of an accession of Switzerland to the European Union, the rejection of military involvement abroad, and the rejection of increases in government spending on social welfare and education.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_Switzerland

Direct democracy


The Landsgemeinde is an old form of direct democracy. It is still practised in two cantons.

Direct democracy and federalism are hallmarks of the Swiss political system. Swiss citizens are subject to three legal jurisdictions: the commune, canton and federal levels. The 1848 federal constitution defines a system of direct democracy (sometimes called half-direct or representative direct democracy because it is aided by the more commonplace institutions of a representative democracy). The instruments of this system at the federal level, known as civic rights (Volksrechte, droits civiques), include the right to submit a constitutional initiative and a referendum, both of which may overturn parliamentary decisions.

By calling a federal referendum, a group of citizens may challenge a law passed by Parliament, if they gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If so, a national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law. Any 8 cantons together can also call a referendum on a federal law.

Similarly, the federal constitutional initiative allows citizens to put a constitutional amendment to a national vote, if 100,000 voters sign the proposed amendment within 18 months.[note 8] Parliament can supplement the proposed amendment with a counter-proposal, and then voters must indicate a preference on the ballot in case both proposals are accepted. Constitutional amendments, whether introduced by initiative or in Parliament, must be accepted by a double majority of the national popular vote and the cantonal popular votes.