Loading ...ZURICH (Reuters) – A Swiss far-right campaign to curb immigration from the European Union, potentially unraveling bilateral ties with the bloc, moved ahead on Tuesday when the government gave proponents a green light to start canvassing public support.
Should the initiative win the required 100,000 signatures by July 2019, it would go to a vote under the Swiss system of direct democracy. That could pave the way to scrapping the free movement of EU citizens now guaranteed under bilateral accords.
The populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has long sought to limit immigration to neutral, landlocked Switzerland, whose population of 8.4 million is already one-quarter foreign.