While European Union is dealing with the severst test in its history, this week Swiss voters narrowly approved a referendum to place new limits on foreigners living and working in Switzerland. In other words, Switzerland, which is not a part of the European Union, will not have to renegotiate agreements with the EU. Hitherto there have been few restrictions on foreign nationals moving into the country to live. In this perspective, foreign workers from the EU have been allowed to freely commute from France and Italy.
It's easy to see Switzerland's contribution to South European nations whose economies are already weakened. In addition, those countries are dealing with people fleeing from persecution and civil war. On one hand, EU directives specify that the country in which refugees arrive is the country in which the asylum procedures should be initiated and completed (for the most part Italy, Spain and France). On the other hand, Switzerland holds a referendum on whether to impose quotas on the number of immigrants it will accept from European Union countries. With regards to Switzerland's constitutional change above mentioned, I think that the deeper question is how much solidarity can and should be achieved in Europe.
Do you think that European countries should help each other overcome their economic and financial issues? In my opinion European countries need to seriously sit down and discuss these issues.
