Regio Insubrica (Italy-Switzerland)

• Author: Viaggi, Raffaele; Rubio, Jean; Peyrony, Jean
• Pages: 23-25

ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF BORDER-RELATED MEASURE S TAKEN BY MS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

CASE STUDIES

23

Regio Insubrica (Italy-

Switzerland)

Border controls

and cross-border

mobility

(Reduced crossings

points, type of con-

trols, congestion,

CB public

transport…)

The Ticino canton is the only one located South of the Alps. Due to the

proximity with the Lombardia Region -the first to be hit extremely hard

by the pandemic- Ticino had a few weeks of ‘advance’ from the rest of

the country (CH) in terms of spread of the virus. In the first period, Ticino

took some very strict and pioneer measures, while the rest of Switzerland

seemed to less seize the gravity of the situation to come.

On the 11th of March, Ticino (CH) closed 9 minor crossing points among

the 22 in total which are shared with Italy. The aim was to concentrate

the flows in order to better implement controls. Unlike Austria, no

health checks were ever performed at the border between IT and

CH. Before the end of March, only 5 border points were left open, in total.

The Regio Insubrica was in contact with Italian mayors as these gradual

border shutdowns generated car congestion issues, especially be-

tween 6 and 8 in the morning. This dialogue allowed the gradual reopen-

ing of some of them.

CB coordination

and dialogue dur-

ing the crisis and

the de-contain-

ment phase

Ticino started reopening some activities on April the 13th, with several

restrictions. Italy started its post-lockdown phase on June 3rd, reopening

faster than Switzerland all of its borders. Crossing the border for Swiss

citizens was then possible again, except for border shopping. Usually,

shopping in Italy is in fact very common as prices are lower.

Impact on cross-

border workers

(Remote working

and taxation, social

security, unemploy-

ment…)

Italian CB workers represent 27% of Ticino’s workforce. On March the 7th

a first decree was adopted in Italy which prohibited mobility between one

IT region to another, including CB mobility. This decree was followed by

a long night of exchanges with the Ministries of the two countries as Ti-

cino, a canton with a population of 350 000 inhabitants, which receives

everyday 67 000 CB workers, among whom around 4 000 are active in

the healthcare service. A total closure of the border would have rep-

resented the collapse of Ticino’s economy and healthcare. An

agreement was found to enable CB workers to commute between IT and