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Switzerland will hold a referendum this summer to decide whether to limit the country’s population to a maximum of 10 million inhabitants between now and 2050. The initiative has been promoted by the influential far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which has managed to push it forward after gathering the necessary number of signatures within the framework of the country’s direct democracy system.
If approved, the initiative—called “No to a Switzerland of 10 million”— would oblige the Government and Parliament to restrict the entry of new residents, including asylum seekers and relatives of foreigners already living in the country, if the permanent population (which includes Swiss citizens and foreigners with a residence permit of at least one year) exceeds 9.5 million people. Currently, that figure is around 9.1 million.
The plan also contemplates that if the population reaches 10 million, new restrictions would be activated and, if the number did not begin to decrease in the next two yearsthe Government would be forced to abandon the free movement agreement with the European Union, its main export market. Furthermore, once this threshold is exceeded, the plan contemplates that people provisionally admitted will no longer be granted a residence or establishment permit, swiss citizenship nor any other right of residence.
At the moment, both houses of Parliament and the rest of the federal government (made up of a total of four parties) They have recommended rejecting the voteaccording to local media. According to The Guardiandetractors also include major multinationals, such as Nestlé and Roche, who maintain that the proposal would jeopardize bilateral agreements with the EU, including the one reached last year to improve access to the single market.
In the last decade, the Swiss population has grown at a rate five times higher that of neighboring EU countries and the country has one of the highest proportions of foreign residents in Europe. The attractiveness of its robust economy, with high salaries and institutional stability, has attracted both qualified workers and less specialized profiles. Today, 27% of residents do not have Swiss nationality.
The SVP, which has been the party with the most votes for decades, maintains that the “population explosion” It is skyrocketing rents, and overloading infrastructure and public services. “Wherever we look, we see the negative effects of uncontrolled immigration in our country. Schools are overcrowded. Hours of traffic jams and full trains are common. Rents and housing are increasingly expensive,” he defends on his website.
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