This sign says: Free Pass for All? NO!
These billboards are EVERYWHERE. There is a vote on February 8th that includes a vote on this referendum about the free movement of people into/out of Switzerland. The thought it that free movement into the country will result in the usual anti-immigration bullet points: more job loss, lower wages, ruined social services, and more crime. The concern is especially around the new EU members of Romania and Bulgaria, where the vast difference between standards of living will result in a large influx of Eastern Europeans into Switzerland. I have to say that I have been somewhat offended by these signs. I know that anti-immigration sentiment in the US bubbles over from time to time, especially when the economy declines, but I can't say that I've ever seen a billboard posted in the US with such a blatant anti-immigrant message. This is probably yet another reason that Switzerland does not want to be part of the EU.
For more details, I've posted a link below to a site that is translated from German that explains a bit more about the referendum. The translated version isn't always clear...but you can still get the gist.
http://translate.google.ch/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.svp.ch/index.html%3Fpage_id%3D4205&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfreipass%2Bfuer%2Balle%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3Dn8C
And here's an article in English with details:
http://www.expatica.com/ch/news/local_news/Swiss-vote-on-EU-immigration-_49334.html
1 comment:
The voting was complete on 2/8/09 and 3 in 5 Swiss voted in favor for expanding the freedom of movement that this billboard was against. Here are more details on the vote:
http://www.expatica.com/ch/lifestyle_leisure/lifestyle/Swiss-OK-Romanian_-Bulgarian-workers-.html
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