Risk of isolation” “

A referendum on the enlargement of the free circulation of persons also from the ten new accession countries that entered the European Union on 1st May 2004 is due to be held in Switzerland on Sunday 25 September. A second ballot is due to be held on 27 November on two further referendums: safeguards on food products containing genetically manipulated substances and the Sunday opening of shops in some transit zones, such as railway stations. Luigi Maffezzoli , a journalist based in Lugano, reports on the situation. GOODS BUT NOT PEOPLE. Will the hypothetical Polish plumber – whose spectre led to the rejection of the European Constitution in France and Holland – also be stopped at the Swiss frontier? That’s the question that many people in Switzerland are asking in the run up to the referendum on Sunday 25 September that will call citizens to express their view on the enlargement of the free circulation of persons also to the ten new members of the EU: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Cyprus. Switzerland, of course, does not form part of the EU. And its citizens, who have already twice given the thumbs down to this eventuality, seem to have no intention of joining it in the near future. So as not to risk complete economic isolation at the heart of the old continent, the Swiss government has thus been forced to negotiate and sign a series of bilateral treaties with the European Union, exactly as if the interlocutor were China or the USA. Some of these treatises make provision for the free circulation of goods or air transport, public contracts or agriculture. And in 2004, with the enlargement of the 15-member Europe to ten other countries, most in Eastern Europe, these bilateral accords automatically came into force. But the same does not apply to the free circulation of persons. LIMITED PERMITS. The deal struck on this issue and signed with the “old” Europe has since 2002 permitted Swiss citizens to live and work more easily in the first fifteen countries of the EU. The same goes for the citizens of these countries who want to settle in Switzerland, on condition that they have a job to go to or sufficient means to support themselves. But further strings are attached to this. The opening of the Swiss labour market to the citizens of the pre-enlargement Union is subject to quota restrictions until 2007: only a limited number of permits are issued. Rather similar conditions operate within the EU, in relations between Italy and Slovenia, for example. Now Swiss citizens are being called to decide whether to extend this treaty of free circulation to such persons as the Polish plumber, Czech bricklayer, Lithuanian carer, or Slovak plasterer. With even stricter limitations and quotas than those applied to the Italians and French: the number of permits will in fact be granted to the ten new accession countries in a gradual way until 2011, while a safeguard clause will remain in force until 2014: if immigration becomes an invasion of workers from Eastern Europe, Switzerland shall be able to place further limits on permits, and the Swiss Parliament shall have the option of deciding in 2009 whether to maintain the treaty or not. TWO FURTHER REFERENDUMS BY THE END OF THE YEAR. Even if hedged with conditions, this question will be submitted to a popular referendum on 25 September. The “no” camp is being supported by a nationalist and anti-European right wing alarmed by the prospect of an invasion, and paradoxically allied with a radical left that fears the economic exploitation of immigrant workers willing to sell their services for a crust of bread with the consequent lowering of wages also for Swiss workers. A “yes” vote in the referendum, on the other hand, is being supported by the government coalition, businessmen, industrialists and politicians linked to the world of the economy, who immediately sensed the economic advantages of freeing up the labour market and who therefore strenuously support enlargement. In part this is because they will be able to exploit specialized manpower in sectors in which there is perhaps a lack of skilled workers in Switzerland; in part because they see the frontiers being thrown open to provide access to countries that up till a few years ago were living under a state economy and are now undergoing rapid development thanks to the introduction of a free market system. The result of the referendum is not a foregone conclusion. The percentage of those in favour has dropped in recent weeks from 49 to 42%, while 36% are against and the undecided account for almost 20%. Swiss citizens will also be called to cast their votes in two further referendums on 27 November: one on safeguards on food products containing genetically manipulated substances and the other on the Sunday opening of shops in transit areas, such as railway stations. On the latter question the Swiss bishops have already expressed their opposition.