Nearly 55% of voters in Switzerland on Sunday rejected an initiative championed by the top right-wing party to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million, early results showed.
The populist Swiss People’s Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighboring European Union.
Some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit” because it could jeopardize Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties and cross-border travel, among other things. Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them
I am not seeing the connection between Domestic policy and EU parliament policy in a country not in the EU. What is going on?
Switzerland has a strong assosiation with EU which includes many different sectors. For countrys like Sitzerland and Norway the deal is basically to follow EU regulations and therefore get access its very important internal market. One of them is migration: Swiss nationals are free to migrate into the EU and vise versa. If Switzerland was to cancel this deal of bilateral free movement (due to the proposed cap at 10 milion) this would mean not adapting EU law and hence lose access to the market. Which is logical because if countries outside EU could access the market without obeying its rules the door for missuse like dumping would be wide open. Since EU ist by far the most important market for Switzerland the economic consequences could be detrimental.