Switzerland enforces new quotas for EU workers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22738774

Switzerland, which is not an EU member, says immigration has reached unacceptable levels, with foreigners making up a quarter of the population.

The UK, which IS an EU member, should learn from the Swiss.

(Sorry, the heading should read 'massive'. I got the gender wrong.)

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said last month the new quotas disregarded "the great benefits that the free movement of persons brings to the citizens of both Switzerland and the EU".

Yes, I'm sure the Swiss can appreciate these benefits.

The last time I was in Switzerland was in the '80s; at that time, Switzerland was employing large numbers of guest-workers to do the jobs the Swiss didn't want to do. Many of these were Yugoslavs (in those days). I took a train from Buchs to Zurich one day; it was the through train from Belgrade, full of Yugoslavs, by then fairly smelly, but generous with their slivovitz.

I also had Chinese friends from Hong Kong who took jobs in Switzerland.

But there was always a difference between that kind of immigration and the free movement of people between EU countries. The Swiss guest-workers came for specific jobs, and when the jobs were finished, they went back. A similar situation applies to the Filipinos in Hong Kong.

This might be a better way of dealing with EU immigration into Britain.

Didn't Germany do that with the Turks, before they went soft?

The last time I was in Switzerland was in the '80s; at that time, Switzerland was employing large numbers of guest-workers to do the jobs the Swiss didn't want to do. Many of these were Yugoslavs (in those days). I took a train from Buchs to Zurich one day; it was the through train from Belgrade, full of Yugoslavs, by then fairly smelly, but generous with their slivovitz.

I also had Chinese friends from Hong Kong who took jobs in Switzerland.

But there was always a difference between that kind of immigration and the free movement of people between EU countries. The Swiss guest-workers came for specific jobs, and when the jobs were finished, they went back. A similar situation applies to the Filipinos in Hong Kong.

This might be a better way of dealing with EU immigration into Britain.

The Japanese seem to have it sussed, they have as little to do with the middle east as possible, they are very wary of granting citizenship, in spite of a shrinking population, they also ban proselyting. Strangely enough nobody seems to call them racist and they are not blighted by terrorist attacks or crime ridden inner city no go zones. Stick to your guns Switzerland, anything that comes from Catherine Ashton is almost certainly to be driven by an ideology devoid of all common sense.

The last time I was in Switzerland was in the '80s; at that time, Switzerland was employing large numbers of guest-workers to do the jobs the Swiss didn't want to do. Many of these were Yugoslavs (in those days). I took a train from Buchs to Zurich one day; it was the through train from Belgrade, full of Yugoslavs, by then fairly smelly, but generous with their slivovitz.

I also had Chinese friends from Hong Kong who took jobs in Switzerland.

But there was always a difference between that kind of immigration and the free movement of people between EU countries. The Swiss guest-workers came for specific jobs, and when the jobs were finished, they went back. A similar situation applies to the Filipinos in Hong Kong.

This might be a better way of dealing with EU immigration into Britain.

Having worked outside the UK for nearly forty years, this has always been the way I have worked. I am employed by a company, on a written contract, and the company arranges work visa and residence visa (in most cases) and is responsible to see that I leave when they no longer need me in that country.

But this is not the way the EU rules are written. There is 'free movement' for all EU citizens. This allows Brits and Germans to go down to Spain and buy cheap villas in the sun as well as bringing Romanian gypsies to the UK to steal the teeth from your mouth. Equality is a grand design.

Having worked outside the UK for nearly forty years, this has always been the way I have worked. I am employed by a company, on a written contract, and the company arranges work visa and residence visa (in most cases) and is responsible to see that I leave when they no longer need me in that country.

But this is not the way the EU rules are written. There is 'free movement' for all EU citizens. This allows Brits and Germans to go down to Spain and buy cheap villas in the sun as well as bringing Romanian gypsies to the UK to steal the teeth from your mouth. Equality is a grand design.

Liberty, equality, fraternity.... and look where that got the French.

After WWII they wanted to improve the gene pool. and to unite with the UK. Winston told them to bugger off. Strange that in the 60s it was de Gaulle who tried so hard to keep the UK independent

After WWII they wanted to improve the gene pool. and to unite with the UK. Winston told them to bugger off. Strange that in the 60s it was de Gaulle who tried so hard to keep the UK independent

Not strange at all - he hated the Brits for the way he was treated during WWII. The British and Americans ran the show, taking into their confidence a few of the other allies, but ignoring de Gaulle completely. Can't say as I blame them - who can ever trust a cheese-eating surrender monkey?

I was once in a cafe in northern France when de Gaulle was making a speech on TV. I remember one thing he said because I have never heard such arrogance from anyone else:- "la France, dont je suis l'incarnation de l'identite nationale depuis vingt ans". (France, of whose national identity I have been the incarnation for the past twenty years).

You can't deal with someone like that!

who can ever trust a cheese-eating surrender monkey?

Hear, hear!

I know this is the Daily Mail, and therefore somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun (good chap, by the way), but this expresses the fears of many UK citizens

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2337695/Shanty-town-suburban-London-street-Romanians-scrape-living-amid-squalor-dump.html

(Fears generated by many similar articles in the aforesaid DM, but fears which our political leaders ignore)

They could be scenes from the Third World as families eke out a living in makeshift shelters amid the filth of a rubbish dump.

But the extraordinary photographs were taken at the site of a former football ground in a leafy London suburb.

More than 50 Romanians are living in ramshackle huts made from waste wood, rubble and plastic – just yards from playing fields and £400,000 family homes.

I knew Hendon from my youth, when I lived in the area for a time. The houses are very nice, well kept, valuable, but it is at the start of the M1 motorway, so suffers greatly from lorry traffic and police cars. It was the site of an early flying field - Croydon was the first London airport, but Hendon had a lot of private planes.

One can't help admiring the determination of these people to make some sort of living for their families.... but that doesn't mean we should be made in any way responsible for them.

It seems to be an intrinsic defect of the EU that mass migration is bound to occur to any country where the pickings are good. If the pickings become better somewhere else, the migration will change course. Short of opting out of the EU's immigration rules, which might mean leaving the EU altogether, Britain's only option is to make things tough in any ways which remain to her.

One can't help admiring the determination of these people to make some sort of living for their families.... but that doesn't mean we should be made in any way responsible for them.

It seems to be an intrinsic defect of the EU that mass migration is bound to occur to any country where the pickings are good. If the pickings become better somewhere else, the migration will change course. Short of opting out of the EU's immigration rules, which might mean leaving the EU altogether, Britain's only option is to make things tough in any ways which remain to her.

The problem is that there do not appear to be any ways left now. Every door that the UK opens is slammed shut by the European Court of Human Rights, whose agenda has changed so much from that set out by it's founding fathers,

An estimate of the number of Bulgarians alone who are expected to emigrate from 2014 onwards.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/13/male-employment-rate-immigrants-oecd

Looking at Romania and Bulgaria, where access restrictions to the UK labour market will be lifted at the end of this year, the report drew a number of conclusions. In Romania, the OECD said, migration data was limited with officially registered emigration likely to capture only a small fraction of outflows.

This is significant because there has been a prolonged debate in the UK over providing estimates of the numbers of Romanians likely to arrive in the UK next year. The UK government has so far refused to provide official estimates as ministers believe they would not be reliable.

In Bulgaria, the OECD pointed to a National Public Opinion Institute study which found that 12% of Bulgarians surveyed planned to emigrate once restrictions on free movement to the EU were lifted. This is the equivalent of 876,000 of the population.

An estimate of the number of Bulgarians alone who are expected to emigrate from 2014 onwards.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/13/male-employment-rate-immigrants-oecd

Looking at Romania and Bulgaria, where access restrictions to the UK labour market will be lifted at the end of this year, the report drew a number of conclusions. In Romania, the OECD said, migration data was limited with officially registered emigration likely to capture only a small fraction of outflows.

This is significant because there has been a prolonged debate in the UK over providing estimates of the numbers of Romanians likely to arrive in the UK next year. The UK government has so far refused to provide official estimates as ministers believe they would not be reliable.

In Bulgaria, the OECD pointed to a National Public Opinion Institute study which found that 12% of Bulgarians surveyed planned to emigrate once restrictions on free movement to the EU were lifted. This is the equivalent of 876,000 of the population.

This is about as credible as a survey carried out a few years ago which claimed that 35% of UK teachers were actively looking for a job overseas and another 32% were open to the idea, thus with 2/3 of UK teachers about to leave the country the UK education sector would be plunged into woe and despair.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/144219/Many-teachers-seeking-work-abroad

Well that was 4 years ago and obviously it's a load of nonsense (well it was in the Express, which makes the Mail look like a high brow read)....

I've seen the light. This mass migration has to be reversed..

Send home all the festering spongers and evil corrupters, with their ridiculous dress codes, their shameful behaviour and attitudes towards women. All they do is corrupt their long-suffering, host nation into their evil ways. It has to end and end sooner rather than later....

Whoops, posted this by mistake on ThaiVisa rather than Gates of Viagra. Of course delightful white misfits will always be welcome immigrants, whoops guests, to fragrant Thailand. Hypocrisy is never an issue and the jolly little local folk are oh so lucky to have such benevolent, culturally enriching types amongst them. What on earth is wrong with immigration?

(Sorry, something went wrong with this!)

I agree, folium, that the figures have to be taken with a large dose of salt.

They remind me of the situation in Hong Kong after the 1984 agreement with China. 3.25 million Hong Kong people were entitled to British passports. Shock! horror! all those people coming to Britain? Of course most of them never wanted to emigrate. Thatcher grudgingly issued 50,000 British passports to carefully selected applicants.... many of whom are still in Hong Kong, and wanted the British passport just as an insurance.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/13/romanian-official-concerns-nick-clegg

Here's another view of the impact Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants have/will have on the UK. Much less frightening!

I've seen the light. This mass migration has to be reversed..

Send home all the festering spongers and evil corrupters, with their ridiculous dress codes, their shameful behaviour and attitudes towards women. All they do is corrupt their long-suffering, host nation into their evil ways. It has to end and end sooner rather than later....

Whoops, posted this by mistake on ThaiVisa rather than Gates of Viagra. Of course delightful white misfits will always be welcome immigrants, whoops guests, to fragrant Thailand. Hypocrisy is never an issue and the jolly little local folk are oh so lucky to have such benevolent, culturally enriching types amongst them. What on earth is wrong with immigration?

Immigrants into Thailand must bring in the one thing that Thailand wants from you - money.

Similarly immigrants into the UK who are from outside the EU must be able to demonstrate their ability to support themselves without recourse to the benefits system in force in the UK.

But immigrants from within the EU have free right of entry and, through our previous government's generosity, immediate right to benefits. It is OK to welcome in German engineers, French chefs, Spanish footballers, Polish plumbers, Dutch cheese-makers or Swedish social workers, but why shouls we allow Greek gigolos, Portuguese pederasts, Czech ponces or Slovak sleaze? And now it looks as if we are going to become the new world centre for gypsies.

I feel sorry for the populations of Romania and Bulgaria - I have worked with engineers from both nations in Libya, Vietnam and the Emirates - but they should concentrate on improving their own countries, not drag Britain down into the kagg that is around our necks now, anyway. We cannot afford any immigration at the moment that does not immediately contribute to the national budget. Bring in money to spend (as is the case in Thailand) and you are welcome. Bring in only your hopes and expectations and, like Thailand, we don't want you.

Nice post, HB, but I draw the line at Swedish social workers.

The forecasts of the numbers who will come to Britain from Bulgaria and Romania may be far too high... but we're in a cleft stick. If we knew how many wanted to come, it would already be too late to do anything about it, because the only way we could know would be that they had already arrived.

I've seen the light. This mass migration has to be reversed..

Send home all the festering spongers and evil corrupters, with their ridiculous dress codes, their shameful behaviour and attitudes towards women. All they do is corrupt their long-suffering, host nation into their evil ways. It has to end and end sooner rather than later....

Whoops, posted this by mistake on ThaiVisa rather than Gates of Viagra. Of course delightful white misfits will always be welcome immigrants, whoops guests, to fragrant Thailand. Hypocrisy is never an issue and the jolly little local folk are oh so lucky to have such benevolent, culturally enriching types amongst them. What on earth is wrong with immigration?

I knew you'd come round. As I sit here in my state funded Moo-Baan drinking bottles of Chang provided courtesy of a Thai government indolence cheque, given in gratitude for my being here. I will of course conduct my affairs as if surrounded by an invisible dome that is forever British territory. If I happen to exercise my right to visit a temple with my arse hanging out my shorts it is my right to so do, and any refusal will result in my contacting a state funded legal representative to sue to compensate for my hurt feelings and the racism shown towards me. Finally, should the Thai government try to get rid of me I will take the matter up with the ASEAN court of human rights, which should keep me quaffing chang for at least the next twenty years.

P.S Apropos your cherished mainstream deity, it's perhaps time to organize a spit-roast.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3646/new_report_highlights_the_bbc_s_islamism_and_immigration_bias

A study released today claims that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Britain's publicly-funded broadcaster, has given "overwhelmingly greater weight to pro-migration voices" over the past 15 years.

The report, produced and published by the New Culture Forum, analyses BBC coverage of major immigration events and issues over the past decade and a half, taking into about the corporation's radio, television and internet coverage of the subject. The report focuses on the BBC's most influential programmes such as Newsnight, the Today Programme and the News at Ten.

Ed West, the author of the study, writes that like any organisation, the BBC has a "tendency towards groupthink" and one that perhaps reflects "minority - even elitist - viewpoint".

A study released today claims that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Britain's publicly-funded broadcaster, has given "overwhelmingly greater weight to pro-migration voices" over the past 15 years.

The report, produced and published by the New Culture Forum, analyses BBC coverage of major immigration events and issues over the past decade and a half, taking into about the corporation's radio, television and internet coverage of the subject. The report focuses on the BBC's most influential programmes such as Newsnight, the Today Programme and the News at Ten.

Ed West, the author of the study, writes that like any organisation, the BBC has a "tendency towards groupthink" and one that perhaps reflects "minority - even elitist - viewpoint".

Who funded this analysis?

You do not quote the organisation that organised and published the analysis, either.

Some anti-EU (but pro-Common Market) organisations such as Open Europe are publicly funded, with some major donors also contributing. All such funds are declared. Other organisations, with similar or private agendas, seem to have unseen and unknowable sponsors. Such groups I do not trust.