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REFERENDUMS IN SWITZERLAND

Polls show Swiss pension reform hangs in the balance

With only just over a week to go until the Swiss people vote on a significant reform to the country’s pension system, the polls are neck and neck.

Published: 13 September 2017 10:08 CEST

Polls show Swiss pension reform hangs in the balance

Photo: alexwraths/Depositphotos

According to a survey by 20 Minutes publisher Tamedia, the reform will be narrowly rejected, with only 48 percent in favour of the plan and 49 percent against it. Three percent said they had not decided.

However a second survey by research institute gfs.bern showed the reverse, with 51 percent in favour of the reforms, a slight decrease from the 53 percent who expressed support for the plan during the institute’s first survey in August.

The vote takes place on September 24th and comes after parliament finally agreed on a package to secure funding for old age pensions following more than two years of debate.

The reforms are necessary to ensure the future of Switzerland’s AVS/AHV state pension scheme – the first pillar of the country’s three-pillar system – which, if nothing changes, will suffer a huge deficit due to the aging population.

People will be asked to vote on two issues: a suite of reforms to the pension scheme, and a constitutional amendment to raise VAT by 0.6 percent from eight percent at present.

Both proposals must be accepted if the government’s plans are to go ahead.

READ ALSO: Study finds Switzerland is a great place to retire

Under the planned reform the retirement age for women would be raised to 65 from 64, bringing it into line with that for men.

Second pillar (occupational) pension payments will decrease from 6.8 percent of the capital per year to six percent, although salary deductions will go up slightly.

That will be compensated with an additional monthly 70 francs in AVS/AHV payments from 2019, financed through the rise in VAT.

Voters on the political left are much more in favour of the reforms than the right, with Socialists and Greens both over 70 percent in favour, according to the Tamedia survey, while voters with the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and Liberal-Radicals are only 18 percent and 45 percent in favour respectively.

On the whole, older voters support the plans more than younger people, found both surveys.

What's at stake in Switzerland's 'physical integrity' referendum?

Four issues in total will be brought to the ballot box on June 9th.

Among the most controversial topics are the two initiatives seeking to curb the cost of the obligatory health insurance — one by capping the premiums at 10 percent of income, and the other by providing a ‘brake’ on health costs, which should evolve according to the economy and wages.

READ ALSO: How Switzerland’s two crucial health insurance referendums could impact you

But there are two other proposals on the agenda as well.

One, titled “For the freedom of physical integrity” was launched by the STOP compulsory vaccination committee of a group called Swiss Freedom Movement.

While it may seem a bit outdated today, this citizen-driven initiative saw the light of day during the Covid pandemic, when the Federal Council had to take some drastic measures — including quarantine and confinement — to protect the population from the virus and prevent the healthcare system, especially hospitals, from being saturated.

This, along with the vaccines introduced at the end of 2020, prompted the group to start colecting enough signatures to challenge these measures in a referendum.

What exactly is it about?

The initiative demands “protection of the body” against interference by the state.

It specifies that the consent of the person concerned must be obtained for invasive procedures that may affect their “physical or mental integrity”, which basically means any medical interventions, like vaccinations, but in practice it goes much further (read more about this below).

The federal government, cantonal health authorities, and health experts in general, recommend that voters reject this proposal, for several reasons.

One is that physical and mental integrity are already protected under the Constitution, which guarantees the right to ‘self-determination’ in matters of health and life in general.

As for vaccinations, whether against the coronavirus or any other diseases, nobody can be forced to be immunised against their will in Switzerland.

Another argument against the initiative is that, if it is passes, it would hinder measures that the government would have to implement to protect the population in case of another pandemic.

But there would be non-medical consequences as well

Since the initiative doesn’t specifically refer to medical interventions but covers generally any actions by the federal government, cantons and communes that involve physical contact, it implies that police would no longer be able to arrest a suspect without his or her authorisation — as such actions would involve physical contact that could impact a person’s mental state.

According to the government, the initiative focuses on individual rights and ignores the overriding public interest.

The initiative therefore goes well beyond vaccination and other health matters, it said.

The fourth issue: electricity supply

Supplying Switzerland with sufficient energy has become a challenge due to International conflicts and the restructuring of the European power grid.

Therefore, a new law sets the ground for Switzerland to rapidly produce more electricity from renewable energy sources such as water, sun, wind, and biomass.

Opponents, however, say that the legislation will be detrimental to environmental causes like the protection of nature, and urge the ‘no’ vote.

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