Immigration battle set to freeze Swiss out of European research

By Angeli Mehta. The EU has suspended negotiations with Switzerland on the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ research and education programmes – worth €94.7 billion (£77.8 billion) combined – after the Swiss government said it could not sign an agreement to open its borders to immigrants from the EU’s newest member – Croatia. This follows a Swiss referendum that narrowly backed a proposal to reintroduce immigration quotas for the EU. In spite of this, Swiss scientists have been told that ‘research knows no frontiers’ and been urged to press ahead and apply for European research funding. More...