Barriers to work for European Union (EU) citizens seeking work in Switzerland will be removed under a new agreement between authorities.

The pact has been drawn up in addition to the 1999 Agreement on Free Movement of Persons between the two jurisdictions and that is intended to "ease free movement of people and services".

Approved by a show of hands in the EU Parliament, the deal will affect an estimated 200,000 cross-border workers after it was noted by MEPs that some Swiss requirement were barriers to the provision of workers and services from the EU.

Further issues are yet to be addressed by the authorities and EU politicians have called on the commission and Switzerland to boost transparency regarding decisions to further enhance internal market participation.

With a population of less than 7.8 million, Switzerland's unemployment rate currently stands at around 3.6 per cent of the nation's working age adults.

Posted by Lee Thrace