Immigration Tests Prospects for a Borderless Europe
After mounting pressure, this month the government reintroduced quotas for work permits for citizens from the European Union. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party is now pushing for a referendum on immigration, which could re-establish checks at Swiss borders with E.U. countries for the first time in five years.
The Swiss are not alone in their reservations about immigration. Declining economies, the rise of nationalist parties and the prospect of citizens from two of the Union’s newest and poorest members, Romania and Bulgaria, gaining unrestricted access to E.U. labor markets has tested the ambitions for a borderless Europe more than at any time since the accord that eliminated most internal boundaries — the Schengen Agreement — went into effect in 1995.
Only a third of foreigners residing in the Union come from other E.U. member states, equivalent to 12.8 million people of a total E.U. population of over 500 million, according to 2011 data from Eurostat, the E.U. statistics office.
But if the new restrictions were intended to blunt a populist push led by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party — which fought successfully against Swiss membership of the European Union — the party seems unappeased. Silvia Bär, an official from the Swiss People’s Party, said the new quotas were little more than “symbolic,” since migrants could circumvent the restrictions by applying for short-term work permits until mid-2014, when the limits expire and cannot be renewed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/world/europe/immigration-tests-prospects-for-a-borderless-europe.html
Interesting that a non-EU country like Switzerland is raising this open border question. They did not have to join Schengen in the first place and can withdraw if they want to.
