BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Switzerland will vote again on whether European Union citizens should be allowed to live and work in the country after nationalist groups collected enough signatures to force a referendum, the Federal Chancellery said Monday.
Members of the youth wing of the nationalist Swiss People's Party, together with the far-right Lega dei Ticinesi and Swiss Democrats, say the vote is aimed at stopping "uncontrolled mass immigration" from Romania and Bulgaria.
Switzerland is not a member of the 27-nation EU, but agreed in 1999 to let EU citizens live and work freely in the Alpine republic in return for Swiss nationals being able to do the same within the EU.
That agreement is up for renewal in May. Switzerland will hold its referendum on Feb. 8.
The 50,000-signature petition that forced the referendum was an embarrassment for the Swiss People's Party, which has distanced itself from the youth wing's demands.
The party, Switzerland's largest, had criticized parliament's earlier plan to renew the agreement at the same time as extending it to Romania and Bulgaria, but it said it would not risk blocking the whole package.
All other major political parties said they supported renewing the deal and extending it to the two Eastern European countries. |