EU neighbours regret Swiss vote for immigration quotas

Final results showed 50.3% voted in favour. The vote invalidates the Swiss-EU agreement on freedom of movement. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the vote would cause "a host of difficulties for Switzerland". France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "it will hurt Switzerland to be inward-looking". The initiative to hold the referendum was spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), amid increasing debate across Europe about migration and the impact of free movement of people, Kazinform cites BBC News. Special relationship Fiercely independent Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but has adopted large sections of EU policy. The European Commission said it regretted the outcome of the vote and would examine its implications. Freedom of movement is a key pillar of the EU single market - a market which accounts for more than half of Swiss exports. The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the vote has shown up traditional divisions, with French-speaking areas against the quotas, German-speaking regions divided, and the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino firmly in favour. In addition, cities with higher than average numbers of foreigners - Basel, Geneva and Zurich - voted against the quota proposal, while rural areas mostly voted for it. Switzerland's economy is booming at the moment, and unemployment is low, but many Swiss worry about immigration. Last year 80,000 new immigrants arrived in Switzerland, and foreigners now make up 23% of the population. It is the continent's second highest foreign population after Luxembourg. In a statement, the European Commission said the Swiss vote "goes against the principle of free movement of persons between the EU and Switzerland. "The EU will examine the implications of this initiative on EU-Swiss relations as a whole." EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding told the Financial Times that "the single market is not a Swiss cheese - you cannot have a single market with holes in it". Mr Fabius told French radio it was bad news "both for Europe and the Swiss". Europe "was going to review its relations" with Switzerland, he added. The German foreign minister said the vote had to be taken seriously: "This proves a little bit that in this globalised world people feel more discomfort towards unlimited free movement of persons." Full story