This entirely predictable decision caused a storm of indignation – primarily among those whom the new law hit: immigrants. Protests took place in Bern and Geneva. Since they were not authorized by the authorities, the police prevented them, after which the enraged 'guests' began throwing whatever they could at the law enforcers: from stones to bottles. Some of the demonstrators were clearly prepared for clashes with the police: the 'Molotov cocktails' they threw at the police, unlike cobblestones, are not found lying on the road.
However, in addition to immigrants, the European Commission was outraged by the new Swiss law. Its head, José Manuel Barroso, criticized Switzerland, pointing out that the country's parliament had violated humane European principles. But in this case, the President of the European Commission can only wag his finger. As is well known, Switzerland (or, as this country is proudly called in documents, the Helvetic Confederation) is not a member of the European Union. Even though they are surrounded on all sides by EU countries, the Swiss have not wished to join the community.
Of course, in practice Switzerland is so closely tied to the European Union that it lacks only an official status to be called the 26th member of the EU. The European Commission has considerable influence on the Bern government, as can be seen at least from last year's 'banking scandal', when the EU obtained from previously unassailable Swiss bankers greater transparency in their work, as well as access to information about the accounts of people suspected by Europol of various crimes.
Nevertheless, in this case Europe is unlikely to be able to influence the Swiss, for two reasons. First, Switzerland has become overcrowded with refugees. Back in the 1990s, this country, along with Germany and France, accepted tens of thousands of Albanians and Bosnians for temporary residence – it was assumed they would leave the country when the situation in their homeland stabilized. Just as in Germany and France, the Balkan migrants did not have the right to work, but could only wait for the opportunity to go home.
However, as the well-known saying goes, 'there is nothing more permanent than the temporary'. When the situation in the republics of former Yugoslavia stabilized, the guests showed no desire to go home, using every means to stay in Western Europe. Still not having the right to legal work, many of them went 'underground', thereby complicating the crime situation. But while in large countries this was not so noticeable, small Switzerland suffered much more from this turn of events. Entire areas of Swiss cities turned into real ghettos, where even police patrols do not risk entering unless they are reinforced by armored vehicles. Such things simply shocked the Swiss burghers, and their reaction was quite predictable.
It should be noted that Switzerland is not burdened by a legacy similar to that of France or Germany. For the Swiss, accepting refugees was an exclusively humanitarian act, not conditioned by the historical responsibility of the Germans for World War II or the French sense of guilt towards the inhabitants of former North African colonies. So the current decision of their parliament is based solely on the desire to counteract the growing tension in society.
Moreover, Switzerland, unlike its aforementioned 'big neighbors', is not a multinational country and clearly does not intend to become one. It does not complain about the birth rate either, and does not depend on an influx of cheap labor: Switzerland still obtains its main profit not from industry, but from financial activities.
The second reason for the weak influence of the European Union on Switzerland in this particular case is that the Swiss did not invent their law out of thin air, but copied it almost word for word from a similar Dutch document. And the Netherlands, after the well-known events surrounding the murder of director Theo van Gogh, became just the first EU country that decided to 'tighten the screws'. Following the Dutch, the Belgian, Swedish, and Austrian 'gates' closed to mass immigration, a new, stricter immigration law was adopted in Germany, and a similar law is being discussed in France...
So José Manuel Barroso can say 'tsk tsk tsk' as much as he wants – his own colleagues, the leaders of EU countries, have introduced exactly the same rules as the Swiss have now adopted. And in this sense, Switzerland has indeed followed the European example.
Boris ALTNER.
IA Rosbalt