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Swiss Politics

Right wing People’s Party votes to curb number of foreigners

This content was published on Aug 19, 2000 The Swiss people will vote on a proposed tax on non-renewable energy and a move to limit the number of foreigners to 18 per cent. At the party conference in Geneva, 151 People’s Party delegates voted for a “yes” vote to the people’s initiative to restrict immigration to 18 per cent, while 109 voted against.…

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Political parties announce positions on upcoming referenda

This content was published on Aug 19, 2000 The Swiss people will vote on a proposed tax on non-renewable energy and a move to limit the number of foreigners to 18 per cent. At their delegate meeting in canton Vaud, the Radical Party voted to reject the people’s initiative calling for a ceiling on the number of foreigners in Switzerland. One hundred and…

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Swiss Politics

Radical Party rejects initiative to reduce immigration

This content was published on Aug 19, 2000 At their delegate meeting in canton Vaud, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of a no-vote in the September 24 referendum. One hundred and eighty six delegates voted for a no-vote while just seven votes were placed in support of the initiative. Vreni Spoerry, a member of the Senate, said that due to economic reasons, the…

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Swiss Politics

Politicial parties do battle over raising the age of retirement

This content was published on Aug 19, 2000 Durrer strongly criticised the proposal put forward by the federal counsellor, Franz Steinegger, to raise the age from from 65 to 66 as “socially intolerable.” “The Christian Democrats will counter all attempts to raise the age of retirement in the eleventh revision of AVS (the state pension scheme),” Durrer told party delegates at the assembly…

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Swiss Politics

Radical Party revises retirement proposal following pressure

This content was published on Aug 19, 2000 Speaking at his party’s conference on Saturday, he revealed that a compromise had been reached with the party’s leadership. They agreed that the financial demands of an ageing population made some form of revision to the current state pension necessary. The Radical Party made clear their opposition to any increase in Value Added Tax to…

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Swiss Politics

Swiss Abroad to increase presence at home

This content was published on Aug 18, 2000 The president of the Swiss Abroad, Georg Stucky, said the Swiss expatriate community had an increasingly important role to play. “Every year, an additional 10,000 Swiss opt to live outside their country of origin”, Stucky said in his opening address to the 100 delegates. The meeting unanimously came out in favour of Switzerland joining the…

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Swiss Politics

Government heavyweights speak out against quotas for foreigners

This content was published on Aug 18, 2000 Speaking at a news conference on Friday, the economics minister, Pascal Couchepin, and the justice minister, Ruth Metzler, said the proposal would solve none of Switzerland’s problems, and would only serve to damage the economy and Switzerland’s standing in the world. Next month, Swiss voters will cast their ballots on the “18 per cent initiative”…

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Swiss Politics

Political parties return to the fray after summer break

This content was published on Aug 18, 2000 The three parties, holding delegate meetings in different parts of the country, will spell out their positions on two issues – a proposed tax on non-renewable energy and a move to limit the number of foreigners to 18 per cent. Both questions will be decided in a referendum on September 24. While the centre-right parties…

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Swiss Politics

Education reforms to dominate Swiss Abroad Congress

This content was published on Aug 18, 2000 Ahead of the congress, 100 representatives of the governing council of the Swiss abroad were meeting on Friday for the annual assembly. Among the issues on the agenda were the bilateral accords with the European Union, and Switzerland’s plans to join the United Nations. The new organisation to promote Switzerland’s image abroad, called Presence Switzerland,…

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Swiss Politics

Return of ethnic minorities from Kosovo postponed

This content was published on Aug 17, 2000 The federal office for refugees said on Thursday people from ethnic minorities could stay in Switzerland until the end of May next year. They were originally supposed to have left by the end of this month. The refugee office said there were still problems facing Roma gypsies, ethnic Serbs and members of the Albanian-speaking Ashkali…

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