Switzerland voted in favor of new immigration curbs, risking a backlash from the European Union and thwarting the ability of companies to hire top talent abroad.
The measure, which requires the government to set an upper limit for foreigners, was supported by 50.3 percent of voters, the government said at a press conference in Bern. Voters in the cities of Zurich and Basel and cantons in western Switzerland opposed the measures, while those in rural German-speaking cantons and the Italian-speaking region of Ticino backed it.
“It’s a change of system with wide-ranging consequences,” including to relations with the European Union, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said, adding that the result was due to rising unease among citizens. “We can’t be sure how these negotiations will turn out.”
Direct Democracy in the Home of Nestle and Novartis
Immigration has supported economic growth, and the EU bloc is Switzerland’s top export destination. Roughly a fifth of its 8 million inhabitants come from abroad. About 45 percent of employees in its chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry are foreigners, according to scienceindstries, an association whose members include drugmakers Roche Holding AG (ROG)and Novartis AG (NOVN), and food company Nestle SA. (NESN)
Economic Defeat
In the run-up to the vote, the initiative “against mass immigration” pitted companies small and large against the euro-skeptic Swiss People’s Party SVP, the biggest in the lower house of parliament. Corporations argued they need top talent from around the world to maintain their competitive edge, while critics, many of them members of the SVP, said the flood of newcomers is leading to worse working conditions, crowded trains and a housing shortage.
“It’s an economic and foreign policy defeat,” said Christian Levrat, a member of parliament’s upper house for the Social Democrats. The economic elite “allowed a state of affairs where people felt the losers” of the open borders, he said.
The vote also risks creating a rift between Switzerland and the EU, its biggest trading partner. The decision to open the borders 12 years ago was negotiated as part of a package of agreements that allow Swiss companies access to the common market, the government has warned.
“That’s the open question -- one doesn’t know what the EU will do,” said Andreas Ladner, professor of public administration at the University of Lausanne. “The EU has indicated that the initiative violates its free movement of people and won’t be tolerated.”
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