Swiss voters on Sunday narrowly backed proposals to reintroduce immigration quotas with the European Union, Swiss television reported - a result that calls into question bilateral accords with the EU and could irk multinational companies.
While neutral Switzerland is not a member of the EU, its immigration policy is based on free movement of people to and from the EU, as well as allowing in a restricted number of non-EU citizens.
The vote, which comes 12 years after an agreement with the EU on free movement of people came into force, could hurt an economy dependent on foreign professionals by increasing red tape and jeopardising bilateral accords.
In a nail-biting vote, 50.3 percent backed the so-called "Stop mass immigration" initiative, which also won the required majority approval in more than half of Swiss cantons or regions, Swiss television said.
The outcome obliges the government to make the initiative, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), into law.
It reflects growing concern among the Swiss population that immigrants are eroding the nation's distinctive Alpine culture and contributing to rising rents, crowded transport and more crime.
Opponents of the move say it could exacerbate a shortage of skilled workers in Switzerland, the home of Roche, Novartis, UBS, Nestle and other multinationals filled with foreign professionals.
"Explanatory and constructive talks with the EU are needed urgently," the Swiss Banking Association tweeted after the result.
The development of fungible, abstract, detached exchange-value (e.g., consider
Aristotle's discussion of commodities, money, barter, usury, exchange-value, and
use-value) helped to unleash the forces of economic materialism, and as we
witness the course of history, we can see an ongoing world historical struggle taking place, and this titanic clash - which is not yet over - is being waged
between Vitalism and Mechanism, between spiritualism and materialism, between
particularism and universalism, between soil and profit, between blood and
commerce - in short, between Beauty and Mammon.
