A/HRC/4/19/Add.2 page 13 41. In its discussion with the Special Rapporteur, the Federal Commission against Racism raised several important points. It believes that there is no coherent policy concerning racism in Switzerland and that measures taken in this area are isolated and divided among the various institutions. The Commission also referred to the lack of political will in this respect, the decline in resources available to actors involved in combating racism, xenophobia and the propagation of extremist ideas, and to the limited scope of, and difficulties in implementing, article 261 bis. 2. Federal Commission for Foreigners 42. The Federal Commission for Foreigners, established in 1970, is composed of 30 members of which half are of foreign nationality, elected by the Federal Council and, at the administrative level, attached directly to the Federal Department of Justice and Police. The Commission deals with social, economic, cultural, political, demographic and legal questions with a view to encouraging the coexistence of foreign nationals settled in Switzerland and the Swiss population. The Commission takes positions on questions of migration and gives its opinion to the Federal Council on questions of integration policy. It defines integration as “the will of foreigners to become integrated in the host society and the openness of Swiss society to the foreign population”.21 The Commission also administers an integration loan, established in 2001, to support projects in different areas.22 43. During his discussion with the Federal Commission for Foreigners, the Special Rapporteur’s attention was drawn to the very restrictive nature of naturalization in Switzerland. One of the members of the Commission pointed out that article 16 of the 1931 Federal Act on the Temporary and Permanent Residence of Foreigners refers to “foreign overpopulation”, which would indicate that any foreign presence is considered excessive by the law.23 The text of the amended Act on Foreign Nationals no longer refers to “foreign overpopulation” but to “sociodemographic evolution”. In spite of this semantic progress, the Commission believes that the new text is more restrictive than the one currently in force. According to the Commission, the agreements on the free movement of persons between the European Union and the European Free Trade Association have had the result that this article no longer applies to nationals from these countries, who account for 60 per cent of the foreigners in Switzerland. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur noted that the situation is strangely reminiscent of the old “three-circle” immigration policy, which was considered discriminatory by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Here, there are only two circles: the Swiss, the Europeans and “close” countries (such as the United States or Canada) and the “others”, or the rest of the world. 21 http://www.eka-cfe.ch/f/kommission.asp. 22 See note 20 above. 23 Subparagraph 1 of this article reads: “With respect to authorizations, the authorities should bear in mind the moral and economic interests of the country, as well as the level of foreign overpopulation.”