Switzerland’s biggest political party demand asylum processing done abroad

BY| The Local

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party announced Tuesday it wants to see Switzerland’s asylum procedures relocated abroad, along the lines of Britain’s planned deal with Rwanda.

The populist SVP, Switzerland’s largest party, set out its asylum policy with nine months to go until the 2023 general election.

“Switzerland is working towards its own disappearance,” SVP president Marco Chiesa told a press conference in the capital Bern.

“This is why we must finally put a stop to this immigration which is disproportionate and harmful to our country.

“The problem is that not only are too many immigrants coming to Switzerland, the right ones are not coming,” he added.

“We can end the asylum chaos and defend our legal system, our values and our culture.”

The SVP wants asylum procedures to be transferred to centres located outside the wealthy Alpine nation.

“As part of a new aid and protection policy, Switzerland could financially and logistically take part in running reception and protection centres in crisis regions,” the SVP said in a position paper, citing UN refugee camps as an example.

The party also cites Britain’s plans to send asylum seekers who have arrived illegally to Rwanda, and believes cooperation with countries such as Britain, Austria and Denmark should be looked at in detail.

Landlocked Switzerland is one of the 27 states in Europe’s Schengen open-borders zone, leaving it without passport checks on surrounding countries France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein.

To prevent “illegal entries”, the SVP wants to create transit zones, notably at airports, in which asylum seekers can submit their applications.

“Asylum seekers would therefore not be on Swiss territory and could be sent back directly to the country from which they wanted to enter Switzerland, if the decision is negative,” the position paper said, with an eye on the Australian model.

Switzerland’s population is 8.7 million, including 2.2 million foreigners.

In 2022, around 24,500 people sought asylum — nearly two-thirds more than in 2021. The main countries of origin were Afghanistan and Turkey.

And since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, 75,000 Ukrainians have obtained special temporary protection.

Switzerland expects the number of asylum seekers to be above average in 2023 at between 24,000 and 40,000, not including Ukrainians.