“EU citizens help finance our social security”

Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey explains why the free movement of peoples should be supported pixsil/Béatrice Devènes

A guest contribution by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey*

Should the labour agreement with the European Union on the free movement of people be extended to include Bulgaria and Romania? In a guest contribution, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey explains why the answer to that important question should be a decided “yes”.

On two occasions in the past the Swiss people have had an opportunity to vote on the free movement of people accord. Both times they decided it was a good thing. As a Swiss I’m very proud of that. With our direct democracy we have done pioneering work in Europe. Now we are again in the middle of a European political debate and it is important to me that Swiss voters should know the issues at stake. For these are important decisions about continuing the accord beyond 2009 and extending it to include Bulgaria and Romania. We take seriously the reservations expressed by critics. But hearing these arguments, I often have a sense of déjà vu.

We don’t need to speculate about possible consequences including unemployment, wage dumping or social tourism. The free movement accord has been in place for nearly six years. So this is not the start of a new experiment. The fears were unfounded. Thanks to the strong economy, unemployment has fallen markedly. The accompanying measures against wage dumping are proving effective, and are constantly being improved. EU citizens are even helping to finance our social security. But what causes the most déjà vu in this new, old debate is the fear of a mass immigration. In 2000 the fear was focused on the Portuguese. In 2005 it was the turn of the Poles, and now it is the Romanians. Today it is clear there has been no mass influx of Poles. And it won’t be any different with the Romanians.

The fears that exist over Romas coming in and committing crimes or begging have nothing to do with free movement. As Romanian or Bulgarian citizens, since 2004 Romas have been able to come to Switzerland without a visa for up to three months. Should they commit crimes, they are punished with the normal force of the law. In this we are helped by international legal instruments, such as agreements with both countries on police cooperation and repatriation.

We keep an eye on these developments. What is important is that we don’t lose sight of Switzerland’s fundamental interests. Qualified workers are in short supply around the world. Free movement makes it easier to recruit the staff we need from EU countries. They in turn strengthen our firms against foreign competition. If it were not for foreign workers, around one million jobs in Switzerland would be unfilled. And two out of every five firms still have problems in finding the workers they need.

The free movement accord has proved itself as an economic motor. And the strong economic development has had a positive effect on employment. In the past two years more than 150,000 jobs have been created. The problem in Europe is not that we have too much, but that we have too little immigration. I am not saying that in some cases the opening of the labour markets has not had negative consequences or that wage dumping and social dumping can be avoided completely. I believe that every case of dumping is a case too many, and we are working on this. But the bottom line is that the free movement accord has proved itself. It is a pillar of the Swiss financial centre. If we put this accord in jeopardy we put our prosperity and jobs at risk. We cannot resolve any problems by rejecting or endangering the free movement accord. No one would send their best dairy cow to be slaughtered just because it had a chill.

The fate of the bilateral approach to relations with the EU also depends on the decisions we make about the free movement accord. The so-called guillotine clause legally binds all the agreements from the first round of bilateral accords together. Should we announce the end of the free movement accord, all the other accords will also fall. It was Switzerland that wanted the bilateral path and chose to go along this way, not the EU. The bilateral approach is the hallmark of Swiss policy in Europe. Over the decades it has allowed us to build up a broad range of accords enabling close cooperation with our important European partners. Today, every third franc that we earn comes from our dealings with the EU.

The future of the bilateral approach is in our hands. In my view we must safeguard the basis we have laid with the existing, tried and tested agreements. The first step is the decision to continue with free movement. We do not at this stage need to agree on future steps in European policy. What we must agree on, however, is that we should not step back from where we are at present. Anyone putting this bilateral basis at risk by pursuing their own personal interests will damage our country. It will not be easy in future either to conduct a successful Swiss policy in Europe. All the more important then that we achieve agreement on this fundamental issue, so that we can move forward purposefully as a self-assured and strong partner and not stumble back.

*This guest contribution by Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey first appeared in the Sonntag newspaper on June 1, 2008.

Free Movement

The labour agreement with the 15 “old” EU countries has been in place since June 1, 2002. In September 2005 Swiss voters approved an extension of the free movement accord to the ten countries that joined the EU in May 2004.

Free movement between Switzerland and the EU is limited until 2009. In the EU the accord can be automatically extended, in Switzerland the continuation of the accord may be subject to a referendum.

At the same time as the accord is prolonged it also has to be extended to the two newest EU members: Romania and Bulgaria.

Micheline Calmy-Rey

Micheline Calmy-Rey has been a member of the cabinet, and Swiss foreign minister since 2002.

She held the annually rotating post of president in 2007.

She earned a diploma from the Commercial School of St Maurice in 1963. In 1964 she completed her Commercial Baccalaureate in Sion.

In 1968 she completed her studies with a degree in political science from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva.