Swiss Are Easing Foreign Workers' Way

Federal Councillor Joseph Deiss congratulated the Swiss for their courage: Surprisingly, they accepted government plans to open the labor market (Personenfreizuegigkeit). Here's what the New York Times wrote:

Swiss voters supported a referendum in favor of easing restrictions on Eastern European workers, helping to temper the country's image as an alpine fortress at the center of Europe. The referendum, on government plans to open the labor market in stages to the 10 mainly Eastern European nations that joined the European Union in May 2004, passed with 56 percent of the vote. The approval in Switzerland, which is not a European Union member, was the first in Western Europe, and it came amid growing discontent among nations like Germany and France about immigration from Eastern Europe.