Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2009
55 Deputy Eamon Gilmore asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the recent referendum vote in Switzerland, at which it was agreed to ban the further building of minarets, has been discussed at European Union level; his views on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46854/09]
View answerIn a referendum held on 29 November the Swiss people voted in favour of a proposal to ban the further construction of minarets. The Swiss Government and a majority of the Swiss Parliament had opposed the ban, which does not affect the four existing minarets in Switzerland. Nor does it represent a ban on the further construction of mosques, of which there are currently some 150 in the country.
The relationship between the EU and Switzerland is governed by a series of bilateral treaties covering, inter alia, the free movement of people, justice and security. In relation to these areas Switzerland is a member of a Mixed Committee (comprising the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) which meets in the margins of Justice and Home Affairs Councils whenever issues relating to the Schengen Agreement are discussed. The outcome of the referendum was noted by Ministers in the course of a meeting of the Mixed Committee which took place in the margins of an EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on 30 November and 1 December.
On 10 December, responding to a statement on the referendum outcome by the Swiss Delegation to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the EU said that it took note of the result of the referendum and expressed the hope that the vote would not have a negative effect on the good integration of Muslims in Switzerland and that their freedom of belief would be fully respected in line with the commitments undertaken by OSCE member countries. Ireland fully supports that statement. It is a matter now for the Swiss Government to determine how best to address the implications of the referendum result.
