Switzerland confirms receipt of EU immigration letter

The Swiss President has confirmed the receipt of a letter from Brussels stating that the EU is not willing to renegotiate the country’s bilateral agreement on the free movement of people. The letter comes after Swiss citizens voted in favour of reintroducing quotas during a referendum in February.

Reacting on Swiss public radio, President Didier Burkhalter, who is also the country’s foreign minister, said the EU was, however, open to talks on other areas of co-operation. Burkhalter told SRF that the letter from Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated: “it [the EU] does not, however, not want to have discussions, and it also wants to negotiate in other domains”.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger says the government will now analyse the content of the formal letter more closely.

The Swiss Government requested talks last month to renegotiate the free movement agreement, originally signed in 2002. As the country is not a member of the European Economic Area, the country has signed a number of bilateral treaties to govern its relationship with the EU.