Sunday, September 25, 2005

Swiss Vote Yes to EU Accord

Switzerland voted this Sunday whether or not to extend a labour accord with the European Union to the ten new EU member states. The French and German areas of Switzerland voted "yes" while the Italian area voted against. There were only 7 cantons who were not in favor.

So what does this all mean for the future of Switzerland?

A labour accord between Switzerland and the new EU member states will be gradually extended to eastern Europe. The new EU members include the three Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia), Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.

Many Swiss fear there could be a flood of immigrants as a result of economic growth brought on by this "yes" vote. The reason why the Swiss agreed is because it is thought that instead, the "yes" vote will only strengthen Switzerland as a country for the future. One of the reasons for this confidence may be in part because the Swiss parliament also approved a series of measures to prevent salary dumping and an undercutting of labour standards.

Certainly, the Swiss will be watching out for wage dumpings as this has already happened with the case of Schumacher just recently.

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