actionuni warns against admission of the “Durchsetzungsinitiative”

Two years after the vote on immigration restriction, the Swiss Institutions of Higher Education warn against the consequences of the enforcement initiative, which will come to the vote on 28th February 2016. They publish a joint declaration dedicated to keeping Switzerland in the centre of a European environment of research and education.

swissuniversities warns against the dire consequences for Swiss education and research if the EU, in a worst case scenario, should make use of their option to cancel all bilateral agreements at once – among them the one that ensures scientific and technological cooperation. This would mean the definitive exclusion of Switzerland from the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ programmes.

Apart from this, 120 Swiss legal experts agree that the text of the initiative threatens the Swiss legal system in multiple and fundamental ways (according to an article in the NZZ). The Bundesrat and parlament reject the enforcement initiative. The initiative goes against basic rules of our democracy.

The board of actionuni also emphasises the negative ramifications for research and education in Switzerland. For the academic intermediate staff geographical mobility is a key prerequisite to ensure exchange of knowledge between experts and for career development. The initiative risks the close and productive interrelation between the Swiss educational and research landscape and the wider European context. The board of actionuni emphatically rejects the enforcement initiative (Volksinitiative “Zur Durchsetzung der Ausschaffung krimineller Ausländer”, Durchsetzungsinitiative).