Swiss village votes down hardline anti asylum plan
Date
12/1/2015 1:00:03 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A 24-year-old Swiss language student has become a minor celebrity after leading a village revolt against a controversial policy to keep her commune free of new asylum seekers by paying a charge.
On Friday voters in Oberwil-Lieli in canton Aargau rejected a proposal to pay a CHF290000 ($280000) charge instead of taking in asylum seekers. The community will instead accept six migrants following a protest and a feisty council meeting.
Andreas Glarner a parliamentarian of the conservative right People’s Party had gone on television to extol the virtues of his plan to keep Oberwil-Lieli free of new asylum seekers. Like many other communities Oberwil-Lieli wanted to pay a fee to escape its obligation to take in new migrants. But Glarner also talked about tearing down empty buildings to make sure there would be no space to house them in the village.
But villagers rebelled against the proposed policy led by Johanna Gündel who started a protest group against the scheme. At Friday’s meeting villagers were unimpressed by a slideshow of explosive belts and burkas that preceded the debate and turned down the council’s proposal by 176 votes to 149.
The vote against paying to exclude asylum seekers could yet be challenged by a local referendum.
This autumn Swiss migration officials said they were anticipating 29000 asylum applicants for 2015 an increase on recent years but below peaks in the 1990s. However the State Secretariat for Migration warned the 26 cantons they might have to accommodate more arrivals.
In an article in the NZZ newspaper on Monday Peter Gomm president of the conference of cantonal social affairs directors said the refugee situation in Switzerland was “very tense” with many cantons reaching their limits in terms of welcoming asylum seekers and providing accommodation.
Gomm said it was hard to predict future figures but he said Switzerland should prepare for an emergency situation and at the current rate 50000 people could cross into Switzerland to seek asylum in 2016.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.