BRUSSELS, April 19 (UPI) -- EU countries oppose a Swiss limit on immigration from former Communist member states, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said.
Switzerland is not an EU country but has an agreement allowing Swiss people to take advantage of Europe's open borders travel zone in exchange for not discriminating against immigrants from any EU country.
Ashton said in a statement the Swiss limit is "in breach" of a bilateral treatment on free movement of people and does "not allow for any differentiation between EU citizens," EUobserver reported.
Switzerland said it would limit immigration to 2,000 people from Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia for the yearlong period beginning May 1.
Switzerland said EU citizens in those countries "make a crucial contribution to the Swiss economy" but said the "complexity of the immigration theme" in its effect on jobs and integration of immigrants justified the limit.
The anti-immigrant Swiss People's Party has recently pushed for a referendum on EU immigration and the party's posters show black workers' boots trampling a Swiss flag.
