With all referendum votes counted, nearly 62 per cent said they wanted to keep free movement, while 38 per cent were against, the BBC reported.

Switzerland is not a member of the EU but has a series of interdependent treaties with Brussels which allow it to access to Europe’s free trade area.

The move to rein in immigration was proposed by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), but opposed by the government.

A similar initiative to introduce quotas on immigrants from the EU to Switzerland narrowly passed in a 2014 referendum, damaging Swiss-EU relations.

Swiss people are given a direct say in their own affairs under the country’s system of direct democracy. They are regularly invited to vote on various issues in national or regional referendums.

Supporters of the anti-free movement plan said it would allow Switzerland to control its borders and select only the immigrants it wants.

Opponents argued it would plunge a healthy economy into recession at an uncertain time and deprive hundreds of thousands of Swiss citizens of their freedom to live and work across Europe.

A landlocked country that has observed neutrality for centuries, Switzerland has over time veered between seeking closer engagement with the EU, and preferring a more isolationist course.

Sunday’s referendum could have forced the Swiss government to unilaterally void its free movement agreement with the EU by invoking a so-called guillotine clause.

This clause would have impacted other bilateral deals on transport, research and trade with the EU, disrupting economic activity.

The president of the right-wing SVP, Marco Chiesa, conceded that his campaign had struggled to garner enough support for a proposal which was opposed by the government, parliament and tradio unions.

Given that opposition, Chiesa framed the campaign as a “fight between David and Goliath”. “But we will continue to fight for the country and take back control of immigration,” he said.

Opponents of the proposal said the result was an expression of Swiss support for open, bilateral relations with the EU. They said voters were worried about the economic cost of ending free movement during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The bilateral path is the right one for Switzerland and for the EU,” Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told reporters. “The Swiss people have confirmed this path again today”.

“Today is a great day for the relations between the European Union and Switzerland,” tweeted European Council President Charles Michel. “The Swiss people have spoken & sent a clear message: together we have a great future ahead of us.”

–IANS

rt/

September 27, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – The European Union and the World Bank Saturday signed a partnership agreement to manage $110 million to fund Sudan Family Support Programme (SFSP) provided by the European countries.

This European support is critical for the Sudanese government to implement tough economic reforms including the end of commodities subsidies which would affect poor families.

“The signed agreement allocates a total amount of EUR 92.9 million (USD 110 million) to the Sudan Transition and Recovery Support (STARS) Multi-Donor Trust Fund administered and managed by the World Bank,” said a statement released by the EU office in Khartoum.

The trust fund is the primary financing mechanism for the government-led and implemented Sudan Family Support Program.

At the occasion, the ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden also announced their support, summing up to $78.2 million USD, bringing the total Team Europe contribution to the SFSP to $186.6 million.

The Sweden Ambassador said in a tweet after the signing ceremony that her country signed bilateral support to the programme of almost $25 million, through the World Bank.

The signing ceremony was held at the Prime Minister’s Office in the presence of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the Ministers of Labour and Social Development, Culture and Information, the Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, European Ambassadors and UN officials.

The agreement was signed by Ambassador of the European Union to Sudan, Robert van den Dool and Ousmane Dione, Country Director for Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan of the World Bank.

Hamdok commended the efforts made by the World Bank, the exemplary cooperation with the EU and its member states and the steps in following on the pledges made in the Berlin Conference.

Today’s ceremony marks “an important step in enabling the civilian-led Transitional Government to provide the much-needed assistance to the most vulnerable Sudanese as the cabinet accelerates its urgent economic reforms,” he said.

For his part, EU Ambassador Robert van den Dool said that the European Union is making good on its pledge at the Berlin conference in June 2020, to support the transitional government in its efforts to launch economic reforms.

“Together with the contributions announced today by EU member states, we have also shown that this Team Europe Approach allows us to join forces very effectively with our partners to make an even bigger difference for Sudan and its people,” den Dool added.

He also, disclosed that the European Union has also helped in triggering the World Bank to consider contributing substantially with resources which will be decided by its Board in the coming days.

The Sudan Family Support Programme is led and implemented by the Sudanese government. The Programme is being implemented by the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Labour and Social Development, and Interior, along with other relevant agencies, and will be executed by the Digital Economy Agency.

The pilot phase is being launched in October 2020 and the program will be gradually scaled up over the next few months, starting with the states of Khartoum, Red Sea, South Darfur and Kassala.

The second phase will roll out to the other most affected states.

(ST)

AMMAN — Jordan on Sunday signed a soft loan agreement and a memorandum of understanding worth 700 million euros, according to a Planning Ministry statement.

The financing granted by the EU, at a total value of 700 million euros, will be disbursed to the Kingdom in three batches, the first, at a value of 250 million euros, is expected in October, while the second 250-million euro batch, will be granted during the first-quarter of 2021, after achieving the related indicators of the second tranche.

The third installment of 200 million euros is also expected during 2021, to be disbursed after the completion of the related indicators of the third batch.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Wissam Rabadi and Central Bank of Jordan Governor Ziad Fariz signed the agreements.

Rabadi said that the soft financing would be provided on “very lenient terms”, at a competitive interest rate and a long repayment period of an average of 15 years.

He added that such processes would require the European Commission to borrow from the international capital markets, on behalf of the European Union, to provide assistance to its partners, at the same rate of interest set on the day of the issuance of bonds or on the date of receipt of the bank loan, according to the statement.

He stressed that the concessional funding and the memo will support a range of reforms adopted by Jordan in priority areas, including public finances, through measures to develop the electronic billing system for sectors or professions, and the adoption of regulations to enforce the Public-Private Partnership Act, increase transparency and efficiency of public investment projects through the establishment of a national register for investment projects.

They will also contribute in “increasing transparency and efficiency in the public procurement system” through operating the electronic bidding system, along with reforms aimed at reducing water waste and introducing smart metres, among other goals, the statement said.

The European Council and Parliament approved a 500-million-euro soft loan to Jordan in January 2020, which was raised by 200 million euros in May 2020 in response to measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total amount to 700 million euros.

The European Union is one of Jordan’s main donors, as its assistance has contributed in the implementation of programmes and projects in important sectors, as well as providing support to the public budget, besides allowing Jordan to address the economic cost of hosting Syrian refugees, as well as addressing the repercussions of the coronavirus epidemic.

The central European Visegrád group has criticised the European Commission’s planned reform of the EU’s asylum policy, which could ultimately force members to accept migrants.

This week, the EU’s powerful executive arm announced that it would be scrapping the Dublin arrangements and replacing it with a “strong new solidarity mechanism”. The proposal would also open up more routes for migration and asylum.

Euractiv reported that the mechanism would give member-states a choice between hosting migrants or being responsible for returning failed asylum seekers under the “returned sponsorship schemes”.

While it is claimed accepting migrants would not be mandatory, the website notes that under a proposed “crisis preparedness” mechanism, nations would be forced to take migrants either permanently or during the repatriation process, such a crisis being on the scale of the 2015 Europe migrant crisis itself.

The report even suggests that states which opt to simply hold illegals until deportation will ending up having to keep them, owing to the difficulty of repatriation.

The mass migration-sceptic Visegrád, comprised of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, rejected the proposals after meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday. (Slovakia’s premier was not present, and was represented by his Czech counterpart.)

(From L) Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pose ahead of a press conference at the Polish Permanent representation in Brussels, on September 24, 2020. – Hungary’s anti-immigration prime minister Viktor Orban said on September 24, 2020, that EU proposals for tougher new asylum rules do not go far enough. (Photo by Aris Oikonomou / AFP) (Photo by ARIS OIKONOMOU/AFP via Getty Images)

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán said that the proposed measures do not include the option to host the migrants in “hot spots” in third countries outside of the EU, so that asylum applications can be assessed before a migrant sets foot on European soil.

“There are many changes, but there is not yet a breakthrough. A breakthrough would mean outside hotspots,” Prime Minister Orbán said after the meeting between the V4 and Mrs von der Leyen.

“Nobody can enter the EU without having a permission to do so because their request for asylum is accepted. Until that moment they have to stay out of the territory of the EU,” the Hungarian premier added.

Mr Orbán further said: “‘Allocation’ or ‘quota’, to change the name is not enough. Hungary is against it. The basic approach is still unchanged. They [the Commission] would like to manage migration, and not to stop the migrants. The Hungarian position is stop the migrants.”

His Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš agreed, saying: “We have to stop migration and the quotas and relocation. These rules are not acceptable for us.”

Mr Babiš added that migrants should instead be stopped at the EU border and returned to their home countries “and be given help there”.

Austrian Chancellor Speaks Out Against EU Migrant Redistribution Policy https://t.co/o4SBXTWwyd

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 25, 2020

The prime ministers were backed by Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, who told local media on Friday: “For the sake of those countries from which these people are escaping war today, they need to be as close to their borders as possible in order to have the greatest possible enthusiasm and motivation to come back and rebuild them.”

President Duda criticised plans to force EU member states to accept migrants, saying: “No dictate of the European Union, I believe, should ever force us to do so. We should never agree with that.”

The Visegrad states are not the only EU nations to reject any migrant redistribution plans. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called any such system a “failed” policy. He advocated instead for strengthening the EU’s external borders, sending aid directly to countries where the migrants are originating, and breaking up people-trafficking networks.