Swiss government minister defends voter-passed immigration curbs

Switzerland’s defense minister said it was “unthinkable” that a recently passed referendum to curb immigration in his country would break any accords with the European Union. The outcome of the vote has been criticized as racist, and some argue that it breaks European standards on freedom of movement.

Defense Minister Ueli Maurer’s statement comes just after a top Swiss court Friday found that phrases such as “foreign pig” and “dirty asylum-seeker” do not violate the country’s anti-racism laws.

"The EU and Switzerland both have an interest in coming up with sensible solutions," Maurer, a member of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) that spearheaded the proposal for the referendum, told the Schweiz am Sonntag newspaper. "It's unthinkable that the bilaterals will be terminated, whether by Switzerland or by the EU. Both sides benefit from them."

In the referendum, Swiss voters this month narrowly backed a proposal to curtail immigration for all foreigners, including EU citizens — a move that could violate a pact that allows free movement throughout the 28-member bloc that came into force in 2002. The number of foreigners living in Switzerland rose by 61,570 people last year, and two-thirds of them came from EU countries, official statistics show.

Fears of immigration and its impact on Switzerland follow a spate of seemingly racist incidents in the country that have captured international media attention.

Maurer’s statements followed the Switzerland Federal Tribunal’s ruling that found calling someone a “foreign pig” or “dirty asylum-seeker” does not violate the country’s anti-racism laws, the newspaper Der Spiegel reported.

The court made that ruling in reference to a controversial 2007 case involving a police officer and a man of Algerian origin. The policeman allegedly insulted the man for being an asylum-seeker after arresting him in the northern city of Basel in April 2007.

A primary court convicted the policeman of breaking anti-racism laws, but that was overturned in an appeal and the case went to the country’s top court, which ruled that those specific insults could not be considered racist. Instead, it said they were obviously insulting but did not target any specific race, ethnic group or religion.

EU officials have been critical of the recently passed immigration referendum, and others fear it may be a sign of rising xenophobia.

In June, 2013, Swiss laws were tightened to ensure asylum-seekers would be housed in separate centers — mostly old army barracks. The new laws also banned asylum-seekers from public places such as swimming pools, playing fields and libraries.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned that the immigration referendum would have "serious consequences" for ties with the EU, which has already postponed talks with the Swiss on multibillion-dollar research and educational programs over the new immigration cap.

Other EU leaders have struck a more conciliatory tone. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against retaliation, saying Europe's interests would be best served by waiting to see how the Swiss implement the referendum result.

The Swiss government has said it will draw up an implementation plan by the end of June, with the aim of drafting a law by the end of the year. It must write the vote into law within three years.

There are at least 48,000 people seeking asylum in Switzerland, and the immigration referendum is a reflection of the growing unease among voters at the number of asylum-seekers in their country, which has some of the highest immigration rates in Europe.

Al Jazeera and wire services