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SVP calls for a vote on ending Swiss-EU freedom of movement

The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) has called for a vote on ending the Swiss-EU agreement for free movement of people.

Published: 26 June 2017 10:55 CEST
Updated: 26 June 2017 12:55 CEST
SVP calls for a vote on ending Swiss-EU freedom of movement
File photo of an EU flag: John MacDougall/AFP

Delegates from the party on Saturday gave the green light for a referendum on overturning the agreement.

The initiative will be launched by the end of 2017, the party said in a statement, though there are two possible variants of the vote.

Either it will call simply for the termination of Switzerland's agreement of free movement with the EU, or it will call for immigration to be a national matter – effectively putting an end to any future agreements as well as the current one.

SVP National Councillor Marco Chiesa said party members should “not to afraid to be categorized as 'populist'” and added: “They will try to portray us in a bad light, to scare the population.”

He said that his native region, Italian-speaking Ticino, had suffered from an “emergency in the ruined labour market” due to free movement of people. Tensions have risen in the region between locals and cross-border workers, and in September 2016 an SVP initiative called for companies to give Swiss workers preference over foreigners.

The vote will be planned by the SVP together with anti-immigration body, the Association for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland (AUNS), whose members voted unanimously in May to develop an initiative aimed at ending Swiss-EU free movement.

READ ALSO: Where in Switzerland do foreigners choose to live?

AUNS is backed by many in the SVP, including outspoken former Valais minister Oskar Freysinger, who lost his seat in March in what an opponent hailed as “a defeat for populism and aggression”.

 
The AUNS' move followed a decision by the Swiss government last December not to fully implement the 2014 anti-immigration initiative that was approved by the public in a referendum. Had it been adopted in its original form, that initiative would have contravened the country’s free movement agreement with the EU.

A survey carried out by Le Matin in mid-May showed that only 37 percent of those polled would support an end to free movement. While the vast majority of SVP voters were in favour, supporters of the Socialists, the Greens, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal-Radicals would largely reject the initiative, that survey showed.
    
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POLITICS

Could Geneva be first Swiss canton to grant foreign residents more voting rights?

Voters in the country’s most "international" canton Geneva will soon have their say on whether non-Swiss citizens living in their midst should have more political rights.

Published: 29 April 2024 12:19 CEST
Could Geneva be first Swiss canton to grant foreign residents more voting rights?

Foreigners are not allowed to vote on national level anywhere in Switzerland.

Though there had been attempts in the past to change this rule, the latest such move was turned down by legislators in 2022.

However, five cantons are permitting foreign residents to cast their votes in local referendums and elections: Geneva, Vaud, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, and Jura. Conditions vary from one canton to another, but in all cases a certain length of stay and a residence permit are required.

(In Zurich, a similar move was rejected in 2023).

Of the five cantons, only Neuchâtel and Jura authorise foreign residents to vote on cantonal level in addition to communal one; in the others, they can cast municipal ballots only. 

Additionally, three other cantons have similar laws on their books, but they this legislation remains mostly inactive.

Basel-City, Graubünden, and Appenzell-Ausserrhoden have authorised their communes to introduce the right to vote, the right to elect, and the right to be elected for their non-Swiss residents. 

However, only few of the communes in these cantons have actually introduced these measures.

Wait…Geneva’s foreigners already have the right to vote?

Yes, they have had this right since 2005, but only on municipal level.

However, this could change on June 9th, when Geneva residents will go to the polls to weigh in on an initiative launched by the trade unions and political left, calling for foreigners who have lived in the canton for at least eight years, to be able to vote and stand as candidates for political offices at the cantonal level.

This ‘upgrade’ to the cantonal voting rights is important, supporters argue, because it would enable foreigners to have more political impact.

“Municipal votes are quite rare, and the issues at stake are relatively limited,” the initiative committee said.

Therefore, “access to the cantonal vote will allow these same people to express their views on wider subjects that affect them on a daily basis.”

Is this  measure likely to be accepted?

No reliable forecasts exist at this point.

And while foreigners constitute nearly 40 percent of Geneva’s population — the highest proportion in Switzerland —  it will be up to Swiss citizens to decide on the outcome.

However, some members of the Geneva parliament are urging the ‘no’ vote on June 9th.

“No canton, no country, provides such generous rights to their foreigners,” the MPs from the centre parties pointed out in an interview with Tribune de Genève over the weekend.

(Neuchâtel and Jura allow voting, but not standing for election, at cantonal level).

“The only path for foreigners to obtain full political rights is through naturalisation,” the MPs added.

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