It didn't take much to figure it out, but in these times of sovereignty it's still a surprise: on the occasion of referendum of 27 September almost 62% of the Swiss (with a turnout close to 60%) voted No to the proposal presented by the center party UDC to limit immigration. The bill had already been rejected by Parliament, and so the promoters addressed citizens directly, raising the specter of mass immigration that would have brought unemployment and reduced wages for the internal workforce. None of this, of course, is true. As is known, almost 350.000 foreigners work in Switzerland, the so-called "cross-border" commuters, very often Italian, but the data show that in the cantons where there is a greater presence of workers, companies grow more, therefore they are hiring more and wages have increased by 2000% since 5, above all to the benefit of managerial posts, almost always occupied by Swiss.
This positive impact is due to the fact that foreign labor is often highly qualified (in 67% of cases) and this can only bring benefits to the entire economic system and to competition. The free movement of people has been established since 1999 through a series of bilateral agreements signed with the EU (of which the Swiss country is not officially a part) which have only recently been suspended due to the Covid emergency. The promoters of the referendum would have wanted the exceptional situation to become the norm and therefore disregard those agreements to instead organize "moderate immigration". The proposal, which was rejected by the voters, was intended to impose three conditions on the free access of foreigners to Swiss territory: to have a valid employment contract, to be self-employed or to have sufficient financial means. The victory of the No was particularly marked in the border areas, where the effectiveness of the free movement of people was evidently experienced first-hand.
Without forgetting that disavowing a bilateral agreement with the European Union it also means putting participation in the free market at risk continental: in fact, Switzerland exports 50% of its goods to the EU and imports 60% from the EU. This time the short-sightedness of the sovereigns did not take hold.
