Switzerland on Friday said it would take in 1,500 refugees and migrants over the next two years while strengthening support for Syria peace talks, which Bern called the “priority” for resolving Europe’s humanitarian crisis.
A Federal Council statement said Switzerland would only accept those “who have already been registered in Italy or Greece,” the two countries which have received the majority of people who have washed up on Europe’s shores. But the federation has not created additional space for migrants, the statement made clear, as these 1,500 people will be deducted from the 3,000 people that Switzerland agreed to accept in March. This initial figure of 1,500 people makes up Switzerland’s contribution to the 40,000 asylum-seekers that European interior ministers have agreed to resettle immediately. Bern said it would wait while continental leaders haggled over plans to
resettle a further 1,20,000 people, with a second Swiss relocation programme possible once
details of the latest EU proposal become clear.