Switzerland must be able to control immigration, says head of business federation

Switzerland must be able to control immigration itself if it "exceeds the tolerable limits", says Christoph Mäder, president of Economiesuisse, the Swiss Business Federation. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Without such a protective measure, the treaty package with the EU is unlikely to gain majority support, he believes. "Switzerland benefits greatly from the free movement of persons and we want to maintain it," said Mäder in an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Wednesday. The Swiss economy would continue to rely on skilled workers from abroad in the future, if only because of demographic trends, he said. "However, the immigration we have seen in recent years is too strong." + Immigration polarises Swiss opinions particularly strongly In his opinion, an important reason for the fears and negative associations is asylum migration. The problems in the enforcement of the asylum system would burden the immigration debate, Mäder said. The current ...