Swiss reject nationalist plan to limit jobs for EUcitizens

GENEVA » Voters in Switzerland on Sunday strongly defeated a nationalist party’s proposal to limit the number of European Union citizens allowed to live and work in their country.

Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported that the measure was rejected by 61.7% of voters, with 38.3% in favor. All but four of the country’s 26 cantons, or states, likewise opposed the plan —proposed by the Swiss People’s Party — to give preferential access to jobs, social protection and benefits to people from Switzerland over those from the 27-nation bloc that surrounds it.

The government had warned that the measure could further strain the rich Alpine’s country’s deep and lucrative ties to the EU. It could also have triggered reciprocal disadvantages for millions of Swiss citizens if they want to live or work in the EU.

“Especially at this time, during the difficult economic situation caused by the corona crisis, good relations with our neighbors and with the EU are important,” Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said, welcoming the outcome of the vote.

She said Switzerland would continue to pursue a “bilateral path” with the EU, eschewing membership of the bloc while

seeking close economic ties with it.

In a nod to the misgivings many Swiss have about the country’s big neighbor, Keller-Sutter acknowledged that “freedom of movement doesn’t just have benefits.”

“The Federal Council only wants as much immigration as necessary,” she said. “That continues to be our goal.”

Roughly 1.4 million EU citizens live in the country of about 8.6 million, while around 500,000 Swiss live in EU countries. Some are dual citizens and wouldn’t have been affected by any restrictions.

In a similar referendum in 2014, the Swiss narrowly voted in favor of limiting EU citizens’ freedomto live andwork in Switzerland. Lawmakers, however, refused to fully implement that referendum fearing a hefty impact on Swiss society and businesses, prompting the People’s Party to get the issue back on the ballot again this year.

Since the last vote, Switzerland has witnessed the turmoil that Britain’s 2016 referendum to leave the European Union has caused, especially for EU citizens in the U.K. and Britons living on the continent. Britain left theEU in January, but is in a transition period until the end of the year with prospects for a deal on future relations between London and Brussels still uncertain.

PHOTOS BY PETER KLAUNZER — KEYSTONE VIA AP Laura Zimmermann, Co-President of Operation Libero, center, together with Valentin Vogt, President of the Swiss Employers’ Federation, Renato Perlini, campaign manager of Operation Libero, and Stefan Manser-Egli, Co-President of Operation Libero, fromleft, are pleasedwith the result of the vote at the meeting of opponents of the popular initiative “For moderate immigration” (restrictive initiative), on Sunday at the Hotel Schweizerhof in Bern, Switzerland.

SVP partymemberswill gather for their limitation initiative in a restaurant, in Rothrist, Switzerland.