EU threatens to kick Switzerland out of Schengen area

Brussels has threatened to exclude Switzerland from the Schengen area if it does not support the payment of an additional amount to the External Border Security Agency Frontex.

Brussels expects Bern to increase its payment to Frontex from 19.5 million euros in 2021 to over 49.5 million euros in 2027, Caliber.Az reports, citing The Telegraph.

The EU also expects that Switzerland will assign 40 border guards to the organisation instead of six.

The EU accounts for 66 per cent of Swiss exports, about 1.4 million EU citizens work in Switzerland, and half a million Swiss live and work in the EU, according to The Telegraph.

Switzerland will hold a referendum on May 15, during which the country's citizens will decide on further participation in the financing of Frontex.

According to the organisers of the referendum, the Alliance of Social Democrats and the Green Party, the migration policy implemented by Frontex is becoming too "cruel" and it is impossible to support such an organisation financially.

The EU reportedly plans to increase Frontex staff after the 2015 migration crisis, which will also lead to an increase in the Swiss contribution to the agency that guards the borders of the Schengen area. Since 2016, Frontex has been operating as the European Border and Coast Guard.