Swiss right-wing party hands in initiative to limit immigration
The Swiss People’s Party is making a new attempt to limit immigration into Switzerland. It has submitted its initiative "No to 10 million Swiss! (sustainability initiative)".
The Swiss People’s Party submitted 114,600 signatures to the federal chancellery in Bern on Wednesday. It demands that a new article on “sustainable population development” be added to the constitution.
According to the initiative, the population of permanent residents must not exceed ten million people before 2050. The government should then set a limit based on the birth rate. If 9.5 million people live in the country before 2050, the Federal Council and Parliament would have to act.
For example, temporarily admitted persons would then no longer be able to obtain a permanent residence permit. Family reunification is also to be restricted. International agreements with exemption or protection clauses would have to be renegotiated. If all this is not enough, the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons with the European Union would have to be cancelled.
According to a party statement today, the high level of support for this initiative, “shows that the population urgently demands sustainable and independently controlled immigration for Switzerland.”
According to Marcel Dettling, newly elected party president who replaces Marco Chiesa, the People’s Party’s initiative shows, “how immigration can again be managed independently.” “Today, too many foreigners arrive, and the wrong ones. We want controlled immigration that benefits our country and our population,” he stated.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/ac
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