Ticino wants special treatment on immigration quotas
The Ticino cantonal government wants the cabinet to take into account differences in standard of living across the border when it comes to imposing immigration quotas required by the February 2014 vote.
On Wednesday, the southern Swiss canton asked for a special regional protective clause to limit the number of cross border workers from Italy. The Ticino government wants the quotas to be based on labour market conditions and adapted to the unique pressures faced by frontier regions. It called for factors like unemployment rate, cost of living, and differences in salaries between Switzerland and Italy to be taken into consideration when fixing quotas.
According to the proposal, the special protective clause to limit cross border workers will be activated in exceptional circumstances once certain objective criteria are met. Specific measures like preference for Swiss workers or quotas for Italian cross border workers would then come into force.
Cross border workers’ impact on Swiss jobs
source: Swiss Federal Statistical OfficeTicino’s proposal is part of a consultation process – until May 28 – initiated by the Swiss cabinet on the implementation of the immigration quotas required by the February 2014 vote.
An overwhelming 68.2% of Ticino’s voters – the highest proportion among all Swiss cantons – voted in favour of quotas for workers from the European Union.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.