Switzerland votes a narrow 'yes' to cap EU immigration - and shoot themselves in the foot

Switzerland has voted 50.3 percent in favor of limiting annual migration from the EU, thus ending the policy of free movement within the bloc that was established in 2002.

Swiss voters narrowly decided that immigration quotas would be reintroduced, thereby overturning the free movement policy introduced in the European Union 12 years ago. Early results showed the country to be very divided in opinion over the 'Stop mass immigration’ initiative.

‘Stop mass immigration’ was introduced by the nationalist Swiss People's Party (SVP). Its goal is to introduce annual quotas on the number of foreign workers entering the country. The SVP currently has 54 seats in the Federal Assembly, and its vote share of 29% in the 2007 Federal Council election was the highest vote ever recorded for a single party in Switzerland. The SVP opposes governmental measures for environmental protection.. The Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher. 

The SVP adheres to national conservatism, aiming at the preservation of Switzerland's political sovereignty and a conservative society. Furthermore, the party promotes the principle of individual responsibility and is skeptical toward any expansion of governmental services. This stance is most evident in the rejection of an accession of Switzerland to the European Union, the rejection of military involvement abroad, and the rejection of increases in government spending on social welfare and education.

The emphasis of the party's policies lie in foreign policy, immigration and homeland security policy as well as tax and social welfare policy. Among political opponents, the SVP has gained a reputation as a party that maintains a hard-line stance. Most memorable negative of the party is that it denied to condemn Fascism.

Final count: Yes 50.3%(1,463,954 votes) No 49.7%(1,444,438) Turnout: 56.5% 

The result will likely vex multinational companies based there; Roche, Novartis, UBS, and other industry giants frequently utilize foreign labor.

According to the latest data, 23 percent of the country’s eight million inhabitants are foreigners – the second largest proportion in Europe after Luxembourg.

Many fear the initiative would have a negative impact on the economy, which relies on foreign workers for progress and a competitive edge.

Italians and Germans reportedly comprise the largest contingent of immigrants to Switzerland, most of whom seek work in IT, healthcare, and financial sectors.

Severin Schwan, Austrian CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, said about half of the employees at the research and development site in Basel, Switzerland are foreigners.

EU-Digest

Sochi Olympics: Dominance begins: Netherlands sweeps men's 5,000 - by Paul Myerberg

Gold - Silver and Bronze for the Netherlands

In the world of men's speed skating — and in the long-distance races in particular — the rest of the world is chasing the Netherlands, a country that views Olympic dominance as a quadrennial birthright.

Theirs is a skating powerhouse that stems in large part from the Netherlands' devotion to the sport. While soccer rules on sunny days, speed skating occupies the country's undivided attention throughout the winter, and during Olympic years in particular.

But perhaps never in its skating history have the Dutch experienced a day quite like Saturday, when a trio of skaters completed a clean sweep of the medal podium in the 5,000 meters

Read more: Dominance begins: Netherlands sweeps men's 5,000

US - EU Diplomacy:- Victoria Nuland gaffe: Angela Merkel calls EU insult "totally unacceptable".

Merkel : "Victoria Nuland statement unacceptable"

Germany's Angela Merkel has said a US official's apparent insult of the EU's efforts to mediate in the Ukraine crisis is "totally unacceptable".

Victoria Nuland has apologised after she referred disparagingly to the EU's role during a conversation said to be with the US ambassador to Ukraine.

A recording of the exchange was posted online, with the US hinting at Russia's involvement in bugging and leaking it.

The EU and US are involved in talks to end months of unrest in Ukraine.

In Kiev, Ms Nuland - an assistant secretary of state - said she would not make a public statement on the matter.

She described the leak as "pretty impressive tradecraft. [The] audio quality was very good".

The state department said she had apologized in private to EU officials.

Note EU-Digest:  diplomats like Ms Victoria Nuland .who can't control what they say should not be working in the Diplomatic Service of their countries. .

Read more: BBC News - Victoria Nuland gaffe: Angela Merkel condemns EU insult

US Diplomacy At Work: Top U.S. Diplomat says to Europe: "Fuck The EU"

The United States’ top diplomat for European affairs appears to have been caught on tape saying “fuck the EU” in a leaked phone call with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

The Kyiv Post, an English-language newspaper in Ukraine, published the tape on Thursday. The recording’s veracity has not been independently verified.

The phone call appears to show Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland discussing the political situation in Ukraine with a man who sounds to be Ambassador Geoff Pyatt and weighing the merits of different opposition leaders.

A woman who sounds like Nuland says, “I don’t think it’s a good idea” for opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko to be given a role in the government. She appears to favor the idea of having Arseniy Yatseniuk, another opposition leader, as the new prime minister, saying he has “the economic experience, the governing experience.”

She then tells a man who sounds like Pyatt that the United Nations agreed to send someone to help “glue” the deal. “And you know, fuck the EU,” Nuland says. “Exactly,” Pyatt says.

“The EU is engaged in helping the people of Ukraine through the current political crisis. We don’t comment on alleged leaked telephone conversations,” Maja Kocijancic, a spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton, told BuzzFeed.

Note EU-Digest: as the saying goes "with friends like this who needs any enemies"

Read more: Top U.S. Diplomat For Europe: "Fuck The EU"

Tax Evasion: France's Hollande slams Internet giants including Google on tax evasion

President Francois Hollande said Thursday that France would not continue to tolerate the tax optimisation strategies used by multinational Internet giants like Google.

"This is not acceptable and that is why, at both the European and the global level, we must ensure that tax optimisation... can be called into question," Hollande said on a visit to the offices of Internet sales company vente-privee.com in the Paris suburbs.

His comments follow reports that France is seeking one billion euros ($1.36 billion) in tax from Google over its fiscal strategies.

"Everyone must be in the same competitive situation, including on the fiscal level," Hollande said.

"When I go to the United States in a few days, we have agreed with President (Barack) Obama to make this effort on tax harmonisation," he said.

Hollande is making a state visit to the United States from February 10 to 12, during which he will meet with major tech firms including Google, Facebook and Twitter in Silicon Valley.

Magazine Le Point reported on Tuesday that Paris has decided to make the claim against Google, though neither the company nor tax authorities would confirm it.

France is one of a growing number of nations to pursue more aggressively what they see as abuse of tax and accounting rules that allows some multinational companies to pay less tax.

President Francois Hollande said Thursday that France would not continue to tolerate the tax optimisation strategies used by multinational Internet giants like Google.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-02-france-hollande-slams-internet-giants.html#jCp

Read more: France's Hollande slams Internet giants on tax

The Netherlands - NSA Spying: Home affairs minister Plasterk under fire over security service phone taps

Ronald Plasterkerk and the NSA

Dutch Home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk and defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert were summoned by the prime minister on Wednesday night to explain the confusion over exactly who gathered information on 1.8 million phone calls and text messages.

The ministers told parliament yesterday the Dutch, not the American, secret services were responsible for monitoring the phone calls, and that the information had then been shared with the US authorities.

Parliament is due to debate the latest information next week. Opposition MPs want to know if Plasterk deliberately misinformed parliament last year when he stated NSA was behind the information gathering.

Plasterk said: 'The details were collected in the interest of counter-terrorism activities and military operations abroad,’ the briefing stated. The information was then ‘shared with the US’.

Note EU-Digest: The question that needs to be asked in the Dutch Parliament is - "who requested the info in the first place and if it was the NSA why were Dutch citizen privacy rights breached and why was this information given so freely to this US spy agency ? "

Read more: DutchNews.nl - Home affairs minister under fire over security service phone taps

Tourist Visas: EU to Eliminate Visa Requirement for Colombians, Peruvians

The European Union reached an accord to eliminate the visa requirement for brief stays by Colombians and Peruvians, the EU delegation in Bogota said Tuesday.

The agreement is a “verbal political decision” that was reached in Strasbourg by the European Parliament, Council and Commission, and must be ratified by the Permanent Representatives Committee, after which the official announcement will be made in Brussels on Wednesday.

“The decision adopted today ratifies the political will of the EU to eliminate the visa requirement for Colombians and gives a green light to beginning the legislative process that will allow the measure to be implemented in the near future,” the bloc’s ambassador to Colombia, Maria Antonia van Gool, said in a communique.

The elimination of the visa requirement for Colombians and Peruvians to visit the Schengen Area, made up of 26 European countries, was proposed last August by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The date when the decision will take effect has not yet been decided.

Read more: Latin American Herald Tribune - EU to Eliminate Visa Requirement for Colombians, Peruvians