Justice minister faces EU peers in Brussels

Neighbourly: Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga in Brussels Keystone

Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga says it will take time to implement a new system to limit immigration into Switzerland, as demanded by the initiative approved last month. She was in Brussels on Monday to speak to the EU interior ministers gathered there.

“Even post-vote, Switzerland still lies in the middle of Europe,” pointed out Sommaruga, the first Swiss cabinet member to visit EU headquarters following the controversial “Yes” vote. She and her cabinet colleagues must now submit a proposal to parliament. In addition to quotas, this means that Switzerland will have to renegotiate its bilateral accord with the EU on the free movement of people.

Although there are many unanswered questions at this early stage, the justice minister promised to keep her EU colleagues informed over the coming months and years – “in close mutual exchange, as is usual with neighbours”.

“The cabinet will not cancel the free movement of people accord,” Sommaruga assured her EU colleagues. She also promised that cross-border workers and EU citizens already working in Switzerland would not be affected, “even if the accord were cancelled”.

Sommaruga also held a series of bilateral talks, including with Croatia’s interior minister. Because of the vote to curb immigration, Switzerland cannot extend the free movement of people accord to include Croatia, the EU’s newest member.

“The cabinet is looking for a solution so that Croatia will not be discriminated against,” Sommaruga said.

The justice minister denied any connection between Schengen/Dublin and the conservative initiative to curb immigration. She also praised the collaboration with the EU in the area of asylum.