Denner initiative goes to heart of Swiss popular democracy

The supermarket chain, Denner, has launched a people's initiative aimed at speeding up the initiative process. The move highlights the difficulties in Switzerland's much-cherished and much-abused system of popular democracy.

The supermarket chain, Denner, has launched a people’s initiative aimed at speeding up the initiative process. The move highlights the difficulties in Switzerland’s much-cherished and much-abused system of popular democracy.

The signatures of 100,000 Swiss voters are enough to force a national referendum on removing or adding a new article to the constitution.

This basic right has become a victim of its own success.

In recent years, there has been a glut of initiatives, most of which have failed to get a majority at the ballot box. As a consequence, there are now long delays before an initiative comes before the people, because it first has to pass the cabinet’s scrutiny, and then parliament can also recommend acceptance or rejection.

The maverick head of the Denner supermarket chain, no stranger to the initiative process, has decided to launch his own “acceleration initiative”, It calls for the whole process to be completed within a year of the initiative being submitted.

In the past, it has often taken four or five years for an initiative to be voted on – which makes the Denner move ostensibly attractive. Hardly surprising therefore that the cabinet has deployed the justice and finance ministers to combat the initiative, due to be voted on in March.

The cabinet says that cutting the initiative process to twelve months would bypass some of the normal democratic procedures. It says a year is too short a period to make an informed decision, and not enough time to work out counterproposals – the government’s usual response to initiatives.

Despite the support of the right-wing Swiss People’s party, the Denner initiative has little chance of success. But the real reason for the lack of approval from the government is that curtailment, rather than expansion, of people’s rights is on the cards for Switzerland. If this country ever joins the European Union, the present easy right to a referendum will be in doubt.