EU – Switzerland agreement on free movement for Romanians

Switzerland and the European Union signed a protocol for expanding the free movement of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, Rador informs. The document includes a 7-year transition period, during which limitations may be imposed to the immigration flow from the two countries. The period may start once the document is ratified, in spring 2009.

The main negotiation issues in the problem where when this transition period should begin and in what interval f this period safeguarding clauses may be activated in case of major immigration – three or five years. The EU option – a three-years limit – was adopted in the agreement.