Switzerland unveils plans to leave Schengen
Geneva 4 Sep (ANA)- Switzerland's biggest political party, the right-wing Peopl's Party (SVP) has announced plans to try and curb the flow of people into the country by quitting the Schengen Zone. Vice President Christoph Blocher made the shock statement after a parliamentary panel rejected the government’s threat to impose quotas on the number of foreigners entering the country next year. Instead, they opted for a compromise based around hiring workers with a preference towards local people. Mr Bolcher said: "If we see that the law to implement (a 2014 referendum to curb immigration) does not massively reduce immigration, the SVP will launch an initiative to end the free movement of people.” A 2014 referendum in Ticino, a town near the Italian border, voted for the idea of imposing quoting on immigration, in part due to the town having a disproportionately high number of Italian workers. Since 2014, higher taxes and more stringent checks have been ordered on the workers amid claims they were being hired for cheaper, pricing out local Swiss labour.(ANA)
FA/ANA/4 September 2016-----