Lavenex, Sandra

Migration Policy
2023

With more than a third of Switzerland’s resident population having an immigration background, asylum and immigration policy occupy a central stage in Swiss politics. Originally addressed in a rather narrow manner as a matter of the ‘foreigner’s police’, and regulated by corporatist ties between employer federations, the Unions, and Swiss authorities, migration policy has turned into a highly politicized cross-departmental concern. Today, both economic and humanitarian migration policies are heavily shaped by Switzerland’s association to the European Union. In exchange for its association to the European single market, Switzerland has had to defend the principle of free movement of persons for EU/EFTA citizens against the backdrop of direct-democratic initiatives. At the same time, Switzerland benefits from the EU’s endeavours to fight irregular immigration and to allocate responsibility for the examination of asylum claims via its association to the Schengen and Dublin frameworks. Beyond the EU, Switzerland has also played a prominent role in promoting international cooperation on migration. However, the Swiss government has faced difficulties reconciling its humanitarian posture in multilateral settings with the xenophobic constraints at home.