Switzerland rejects EU proposal to take more asylum-seekers

Geneva  :  Switzerland has rejected an asylum seeker relocation programme proposed by the European Union (EU) to relieve the burden on frontier countries like Italy and Greece, media reports said on Sunday.

A spokesperson from the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has confirmed that Switzerland will not renew its commitment to accept asylum seekers from southern European countries, reported Xinhua citing the local SonntagsBlick paper.

According to the report, the EU had launched a second relocation programme last autumn and in a letter to Switzerland asked to accommodate as many people as possible. 

Switzerland had participated in the first such relocation programme in 2015, pledging to take in 1,500 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece. 

So far, local media said that 902 asylum seekers from Italy and 579 from Greece have been admitted by Switzerland under this programme.