A few days ago, both the National Council and the Council of States passed two motions tabled by the UDC with the same wording: in future, all EU and EFTA citizens will be required to provide a criminal record extract in order to obtain a residence permit in Switzerland. The Minister for Justice, Beat Jans, had warned in vain that this measure violates the agreement on the free movement of persons. It was of little use.
The trigger, in part, was the fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve, in which 41 people died. The perpetrator had previous convictions in France of which the Valais authorities were unaware. Had they known, they could have refused to grant him a permit. The case in Graubünden also weighed heavily, where the canton granted permits to four people with links to the Italian mafia because nobody had checked their criminal records. The canton of Ticino has been doing the same since 2015, independently of Brussels. Of the cases reviewed at the time, 1.1 per cent of applicants had criminal records, and 33 with serious offences were refused a licence.
The problem is that the measure directly contravenes the First Bilateral Agreements. If Switzerland applies it systematically to the whole of the EU, Brussels could terminate the agreement on the free movement of persons. And if that agreement collapses, it will drag the rest down with it. Until now, the EU had confined itself to reminding Ticino that it was breaching the rules at the annual meetings of the Joint Committee. It would be a different matter if the whole of Switzerland were to do the same.
That said, there is no need to jump to conclusions. The motions must go before both houses again, and if they are confirmed, the Federal Council will have to draft a bill. That takes time. But the direction is clear, and this is the first time both houses have approved something like this in a coordinated manner.