Swiss citizens, in a nationwide referendum, rejected a controversial proposal to cap the country's population at a maximum of 10 million people. This initiative, put forward by the right-conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP), could have led to the cancellation of key agreements with the European Union and a radical overhaul of the country's migration policy.
As reported by Deutsche Welle, according to the initial vote count results from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS), approximately 55% of citizens voted against the so-called "sustainability initiative," while only 45% supported it. Voter turnout for the referendum was 57.7%, with the vast majority of Swiss citizens traditionally taking advantage of the option to vote by mail.
What Was Proposed and What Was Avoided
As we reported earlier, the Alpine republic currently has a population of approximately 9.1 million people, with foreigners accounting for a record 27% in Europe. The referendum initiators pointed out that since Switzerland joined the European agreement on free movement in 2002, the country's population has increased by 1.7 million people, primarily due to migration.
The SVP proposed introducing a strict demographic limit. If the population reached 9.5 million, the government would be obliged to implement emergency measures to reduce migration, including significantly complicating family reunification and asylum procedures.
Should the population exceed 10 million people, Switzerland would have had to cancel its free movement agreements with the EU entirely, which would have jeopardized the country's participation in the Schengen Area and the Dublin System. Journalists and political scientists had already dubbed the potential consequences of such isolation a "Swiss Brexit."
All major political forces in the country, except for the SVP itself and its allies, opposed this radical initiative.
The failure of the initiative in the referendum removes the threat of a potential personnel crisis for the Swiss economy, which heavily relies on foreign specialists — from medical personnel and care workers to highly qualified professionals in the pharmaceutical sector. This will also reassure hundreds of thousands of EU citizens (almost 330,000 Germans alone reside in Switzerland) who hold residence permits or commute daily to Switzerland for work.
Changes in Civil Service
Along with rejecting migration restrictions, the Swiss also voted on another important issue. By a narrow margin (approximately 53% against 47%), citizens supported a proposal to make it more difficult to switch to unarmed alternative civil service.
This decision was prompted by a record increase in the number of young people opting out of traditional military service. Last year, over 7,000 people were granted access to alternative service, marking a historical high for the country. The government and military command hope that complicating the procedure will help address the shortage of personnel in the army and civil defense system.
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