The initiative “No to a Switzerland of ten million”, which proposed imposing measures to curb population growth – mainly through more restrictions on immigration and the right to asylum – if the country reached 9.5 million inhabitants before 2050, was rejected today by referendum.
Proposed and defended alone by the populist party Center Democratic Union (UDC), the initiative has been rejected by a narrow margin, according to the first polls broadcast by Swiss public television. The objective of the initiative, which has been the subject of arduous debate at the national level, was to prevent the country’s population from exceeding ten million people in 2050.
snowball effect
The year 2050 is still very far away, but the fact is that the initiative would force the Government to impose residence and asylum restrictions if the number of inhabitants exceeded 9.5 million before that date.
These measures could cause a snowball effect in the very relations between the country and the European Union: people provisionally admitted would no longer be granted permanent residence permits and family reunification would also be restricted.
Regarding regular immigration, Switzerland would have to renegotiate, in a second phase, the international agreements that contribute to population growth, starting with its free movement of people agreement with the European Union.
