The new “self-determination” initiative launched by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) would assert the supremacy of Switzerland’s constitution over international treaties, which would have to be renegotiated or cancelled if they clashed with domestic referendum results. Switzerland …
The new “self-determination” initiative launched by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) would assert the supremacy of Switzerland’s constitution over international treaties, which would have to be renegotiated or cancelled if they clash with domestic referendum results.
Background
Switzerland is a country in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The sovereign state is a federal republic situated in western, central and southern Europe.
A new Swiss Constitution was adopted in 1999 but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure. It outlines basic and political rights of individuals and citizen participation in public affairs, divides the powers between the Confederation and the cantons and defines federal jurisdiction and authority.
The SVP rose to international prominence in the early 1990s when its leader Christoph Blocher successfully campaigned against membership of the European Economic Area, which would have been a stepping stone towards the EU. Under Mr Blocher, the SVP became a powerful, stridently anti-EU movement. Critics accuse it of xenophobia, but its economic liberalism attracts support in Switzerland’s richest areas, such as Meilen.
Swiss voters’ opposition to the EU has grown since the 1990s and Mr Blocher, 78, has largely handed over responsibility to a new generation of SVP politicians, including his daughter Magdalena Martullo-Blocher, chief executive of the EMS chemicals group.
Analysis
The Switzerland-wide vote on “self-determination” is a test of support for the ultra-conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the country’s most popular political group — and arguably Europe’s most successful nationalist party based on its deep roots in Switzerland’s political landscape.
If adopted, the “self-determination” initiative — put forward by the SVP — would assert the supremacy of Switzerland’s constitution over international treaties, which would have to be renegotiated or cancelled if they clashed with domestic referendum results.
While sounding legalistic, its effects would be to upset the affluent Alpine state’s relations with the rest of the world — including, crucially, with the EU, whose members surround its borders but which it has stubbornly refused to join.
The vote comes as Brussels — with Brexit on its mind — intensifies pressure on Bern to overhaul a system of bilateral deals determining Switzerland’s relations with the EU. It wants an “institutional framework” by which Swiss rules would change automatically in line with the EU, and the European Court of Justice involved in resolving disputes. While the self-determination vote is not directly linked to the EU talks, a Yes vote would mark a resurgence in nationalism in a country whose hero is William Tell, the legendary archer who stood up to invaders.
Swiss sovereignty, argues the SVP, has already been eroded by Bern’s reluctance to upset Brussels. The party accuses the government of failing to implement properly its past referendum victories on curbing immigration and expelling foreign criminals — which clashed with Switzerland’s agreement with the EU on the free movement of people.
If Brussels “bullies” Switzerland, Bern could charge EU lorries much more for using pan-Alpine transit routes. ‘No’ campaigners also fear a ‘Yes’ vote would call into doubt Switzerland’s commitment to international treaties on human rights: in 2009 Swiss voters backed a ban on the building of minarets which could, in theory, mean agreements on guaranteeing religious freedom have to be renegotiated.
Opinion polls suggest the “self-determination” campaign” will fail on Sunday — although perhaps only narrowly.
Assessment
Our assessment is that Switzerland’s “self-determination” referendum is the latest nationalist poll conducted in the wave that has covered Europe since the Brexit vote of 2016. We believe that if Switzerland votes ‘Yes’ in this referendum, it will fundamentally change European politics as well as the functions of the UN, whose second largest office is based in Geneva.
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