Zwitserland strenger over toelating EU-werknemers (en)

BRUSSELS - Switzerland is imposing quotas on permits for EU citizens to live and work on its territory despite objections from Brussels.

The federal government said on Wednesday (24 April) it will give just 2,180 five-year residency permits over the next 12 months to people from eight eastern European countries, such as Poland and Slovakia.

It is planning to give 53,700 permits to people from 17 remaining EU counties, except Bulgaria and Romania, which are covered by a separate migration regime until 2016.

Short-stay permits for up to one year will not be affected.

The government statement said it has the right to go ahead under a "safeguard clause" included in its 1999 EU agreement on free movement because it is seeing up to 80,000 extra arrivals each year.

It said some nice things about EU migrants.

It noted that the 1.2 million EU citizens who already live in the 8-million-strong country have "had a positive impact … in particular in terms of consumer spending and on the construction industry."

But amid pressure for a referendum on immigration by far-right factions such as the Swiss People's Party, it added that the curbs are needed to "make immigration more acceptable to society."

It also hinted that some EU migrants are welfare cheats who gobble up "affordable housing" and put a squeeze on Swiss infrastructure. "It is … important to consistently combat abuses in the area of immigration law and social security," it said.

"It's a fact that there is unease among the population, and it's necessary to take this unease seriously," Swiss justice minister Simonetta Sommaruga told press.

For her part, EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton i rebuked Bern, saying she "regrets" the move and underlining the "great benefits" of EU-Swiss work mobility.

She noted that Switzerland did not impose curbs in 2008 or 2009 despite being within its rights to do so.

She added that the split in permit quotas between the EU8 and EU17 groups is illegal because the 1999 agreement does not allow it to differentiate between EU countries.

The Swiss decision is the second year in a row it has invoked the safeguard clause for the EU8. But the clause will cease to be valid from May 2014.