"We regret that the Swiss government (…) failed to take into consideration the critical opinion and legal arguments repeatedly expressed by EU institutions and member-states," the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry's Public Relations Division said in a reply to BNS.
The ministry said it agreed with the statement made by EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton who said that unequal treatment of EU citizens and division of the citizens into two groups runs counter to the EU-Switzerland agreement on free movement of persons.
On Wednesday, the Swiss government decided to extend the validity of the labor market article, which restricts work permits for certain EU citizens of all 27 member-states to 12 months, starting next month.
Immigration is a sore issue for Switzerland where the far-right People's Coalition has over the past years been strongly criticizing foreigners for taking jobs from the local population.
From now on, Switzerland will apply the restriction to all of the EU. The restriction applies to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia from May of 2012.
