Federal popular initiative "Stop overpopulation - to secure the natural foundations of life"

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The federal popular initiative "Stop overpopulation - to secure the natural foundations of life" was a Swiss popular initiative of the environmental protection organization Ecopop . The initiative called for immigration to Switzerland to be limited and for state funds to be used worldwide to promote voluntary family planning . The Federal Council and Parliament recommended the initiative to be rejected. The initiative was rejected on November 30, 2014 by the sovereign with 74.1% no votes and by all the cantons ; the turnout was around 49.4%.

Initiative text

I
The Federal Constitution is amended as follows:

Art. 73a (new) Population
1 The Confederation aims to have a population in Switzerland at a level at which the natural foundations of life are permanently ensured. It also supports this goal in other countries, namely in the context of international development cooperation.
2 The permanent resident population in Switzerland must not grow by more than 0.2 percent per year on average over three years as a result of immigration.
3 The Confederation invests at least 10 percent of its funds flowing into international development cooperation in measures to promote voluntary family planning.
4 It may not conclude any international treaties that violate the provisions of this article or prevent or impede measures that are suitable for achieving the objectives of this article.

II
The transitional provisions of the Federal Constitution are changed as follows:

Art. 197 no. 92 (new)
9. Transitional provision to Article 73a (population)
1 After the adoption of Article 73a by the people and the cantons, international treaties that contradict the objectives of this Article must be amended as soon as possible, but at the latest within four years. If necessary, the relevant contracts are to be terminated.
2 After the people and the cantons have adopted Article 73a, the permanent resident population in Switzerland may not increase by more than 0.6 percent in the first calendar year and by more than 0.4 percent in the second calendar year as a result of immigration. From this point in time and until the implementing legislation on Article 73a comes into force, the permanent resident population must not increase by more than 0.2 percent per year. A higher increase in the years up to the entry into force of the implementing legislation for Article 73a must be compensated for within five years of this implementation legislation coming into force.

argumentation

Per

The initiators wanted to stop immigration to Switzerland and the overpopulation of the world in the interests of sustainable ecological development . Already the sovereign assumed mass immigration initiative was not sufficient to do so. If the initiative is adopted, annual net immigration will be reduced from around 87,000 today to an ecologically sustainable level of around 16,000 in the long term. The promotion of voluntary family planning and contraception in developing countries is necessary in order to reduce global population growth.

Contra

Opponents argued that restricting immigration so severely would seriously damage the Swiss economy ; they already need more foreign specialists than the initiative would allow. Relations between Switzerland and the European Union would be further strained. In addition, an investment in voluntary family planning in developing countries is an unsuitable measure to reduce population growth. Investments in higher education are much more sustainable, since children are often the only old-age security for families in poorly educated countries .

Opinions

All Federal Council parties ( SVP , SP , FDP , CVP and BDP ) as well as GPS , GLP and EPP passed the no-slogan to the initiative.

Representative polls before voting

According to a representative survey by the research institute gfs.bern , six weeks before the vote, 35% of those questioned answered with “Yes” or “More or less yes”, while 58% of those asked answered “No” or “More or less no”. About 7% of those questioned were still undecided. Two weeks before the vote, 39% of the respondents answered with “Yes” or “Rather yes”, while 56% of the respondents answered “No” or “More or less no”. 5% of the respondents were undecided.

poll

The initiative was rejected on November 30, 2014 by 74.1 percent of the voters and all cantons.

  • Yes (0 status)
  • No (20 6 / 2 Scores)
    • Ecopop initiative - preliminary official final results
    Canton Yes (%) No (%) Participation (%)
    Canton ZurichCanton Zurich Zurich 24.3 75.7 53.7
    Canton BernCanton Bern Bern 25.1 74.9 47.2
    Canton lucerneCanton lucerne Lucerne 29.6 70.4 50.1
    Canton of UriCanton of Uri Uri 30.0 70.0 41.0
    Canton of SchwyzCanton of Schwyz Schwyz 34.2 65.8 51.7
    Canton of ObwaldenCanton of Obwalden Obwalden 32.6 67.4 49.5
    Canton of NidwaldenCanton of Nidwalden Nidwalden 29.2 70.8 50.6
    Canton of GlarusCanton of Glarus Glarus 30.8 69.2 40.8
    Canton of ZugCanton of Zug train 24.4 75.6 55.9
    Canton of FriborgCanton of Friborg Freiburg 25.5 74.5 47.6
    Canton of SolothurnCanton of Solothurn Solothurn 30.4 69.6 47.3
    Canton of Basel-StadtCanton of Basel-Stadt Basel city 23.8 76.2 54.5
    Canton of Basel-CountryCanton of Basel-Country Basel-Country 26.0 74.0 50.3
    Canton of SchaffhausenCanton of Schaffhausen Schaffhausen 31.8 68.2 67.5
    Canton of Appenzell AusserrhodenCanton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Ausserrhoden 30.0 70.0 51.6
    Canton of Appenzell InnerrhodenCanton of Appenzell Innerrhoden Appenzell Innerrhoden 30.8 69.2 45.1
    Canton of St. GallenCanton of St. Gallen St. Gallen 30.4 69.6 48.8
    canton of Grisonscanton of Grisons Grisons 22.5 77.5 46.3
    Kanton AargauKanton Aargau Aargau 29.4 70.6 49.3
    Canton of ThurgauCanton of Thurgau Thurgau 30.9 69.1 46.8
    Canton of TicinoCanton of Ticino Ticino 36.9 63.1 45.9
    Canton of VaudCanton of Vaud Vaud 17.3 82.7 51.8
    Canton of ValaisCanton of Valais Valais 21.3 78.7 53.0
    Canton of NeuchâtelCanton of Neuchâtel Neuchâtel 21.8 78.2 43.9
    Canton of GenevaCanton of Geneva Geneva 21.4 78.6 51.1
    Canton of JuraCanton of Jura law 22.8 77.2 40.7
    Federal coat of arms ÜÜÜSwiss Confederation 25.9 74.1 49.4

    See also

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Website of the opponents of the initiative ( memento of the original from October 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ecopopnein.ch
    2. ^ Shadow over the Ecopop initiative. from: srf.ch , accessed on October 29, 2014.
    3. ↑ SRG survey: yes, share of Ecopop initiative increased. from: srf.ch , accessed on November 19, 2014.
    4. ↑ Preliminary official final results on admin.ch, accessed on November 30, 2014