>__The Swiss have voted to boost monthly payments for pensioners amid concerns over the rising cost of living in pricey Switzerland, according to a projection. A separate proposal to gradually raise the retirement age to 66 and beyond was clearly rejected in a separate nationwide vote.__
>On Sunday, 58% of Swiss voters are projected to back the “Better living in retirement” initiative, which proposes an additional monthly pension payment to help pensioners struggling to make ends meet in the face of inflation and rising living costs. A majority of cantons are also projected to support the proposal.
>The initiative, launched by the Swiss Trade Union Federation and backed by left-of-centre parties, called for a 13th monthly pension payment each year from the old-age and survivors’ state (known as AHV/AVS) pension scheme – instead of the standard 12 – similar to the additional 13th monthly salary many employees receive in Switzerland.
>The “yes” vote was more emphatic than earlier polls had suggested (up from 53% ten days ahead of the vote) and represents a historic victory in the Alpine nation: the first time that a left-wing initiative has been accepted to boost the Swiss state pension system.
>“The social pact in our country still works,” Pierre-Yves Maillard, president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, told Swiss public television, RTS.
>“This is a wonderful message to all those who have worked all their lives. It is the people who have the power in Switzerland. And I am very proud of our country and our democracy.”
>Social Democrat parliamentarian Samuel Bendahan also underlined the historic aspect of the vote, calling it a “watershed”.
>For once, “we are doing something for normal people” and not just the rich, he told the Keystone-SDA news agency. In a rich country like Switzerland, “everybody should be able to profit from the prosperity”.
>__Protest vote__
>In his analysis, Lukas Golder of the gfs.bern research institute described the result as a “protest vote”.
>“People are protesting against a state that spends a lot elsewhere and finances a lot of things, for example defence and migration,” he told Swiss public television, SRF. “That prompted many in medium-sized businesses to say, ‘Now we can do something for ourselves that will broadly and effectively relieve the financial situation’ for pensioners.”
>The issue sparked huge interest among voters and turnout is projected to reach 59%. In many municipalities across the country, postal voting exceeded or was close to 50%, according to the latest available figures.
>Supporters had argued that the reform of the pension system was both affordable and urgently needed. Under the 13th pension payment initiative, a monthly pension will be paid 13 times a year from 2026. The maximum annual retirement pension will thus increase by CHF2,450 to CHF31,850 for individuals and by CHF3,675 to CHF47,775 for married couples. The extra month represents an increase of 8.33% in the state pension.
>The reform had been fiercely fought by right-wing and centre parties, as well as the country’s main business groups, who had rejected it as financially unsound. The Swiss government and parliament had also officially opposed it.
>__Surprise__
>They had questioned how exactly such a reform – estimated by the government to cost CHF4 billion a year – could be financed and raised fears over the long-term sustainability of the entire state pension system.
>Details on how the initiative will be implemented and funded – through higher social security contributions, taxes or other options – must still be ironed out by the Federal Council and parliament. The initiative text says nothing on this point.
>Monika Rühl, director of Switzerland’s business lobby Economiesuisse, said she was surprised by the extent of the “yes” vote.
>“It’s going to be a difficult time to find equitable solutions, especially from the point of view of young people,” she told RTS.
>As for the solutions, “there are no miracles”, she declared. “We can increase salary deductions, increase VAT, or increase the federal government’s contribution, which I don’t really believe in given the state of federal finances.”
>Céline Amaudruz, a parliamentarian from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, said the right had “only itself to blame” for Sunday’s defeat.
>“We have never been able to give answers in relation to the AVS or to health costs,” she told RTS. “There was obviously a need for a counter-proposal on this subject…that’s the result if you say ‘no’ to everything without making any proposals.”
>__‘No’ to retiring at 66…or later__
>In a separate pension vote on Sunday, 75% of Swiss voters are projected to reject a people’s initiative to gradually raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 over the next decade and then peg it to life expectancy to ensure full financing of the state pension system.
>The proposal by the youth section of the right-wing Radical-Liberal party, entitled “For a Secure and Sustainable Old-Age Pension Scheme”, was supported by right-wing parties but failed to gain traction among a majority of the electorate.
>Opponents – mainly on the left and in the centre of the political spectrum – had denounced it as “anti-social, technocratic and anti-democratic”, and “ill-suited for reforming old-age provision”. The “no” side accused the text’s backers of ignoring the reality experienced by senior citizens on Switzerland’s job market. People over 55 already have difficulty finding a job when they become unemployed, they point out.
>Following Sunday’s results, the young Radical-Liberals sounded downbeat but combative. It was a “black day for young people”, the party said: the combination of the two vote results marked “the worst scenario for the future of the old-age pension system”.
>Increasing life expectancy and more older people mean raising the retirement age is inevitable, it said – not admitting this is “cowardice in the face of reality”. It called on government and parliament to go back to the drawing board and present a plan to “renovate” the pension system.
> “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”
-Alexander Fraser Tytler
Wait you can do that….
I know! Lets just squeeze the younger generations for all they got and make sure nothing will be left for them
What did they answer to the 3rd question, where does the money come from? Or was that one missed out
Good for them. Here Americans would be brainwashed into agreeing privatization of SS/Medicare would be a good thing then complain when they realize it isn’t. Also they’d blame the wrong political party for the issue.
if this this was my country that would mean they are getting lower pensions and retiring later..Democracy works weird in my country.
Fuck I need to move. Canada is the sux.
Guys let’s vote to raise wages and also reduces prices of everything.
Boomer win democracy once again
The problem with direct democracy in a nutshell lol
Oof, i can already feel my taxes going up
Switzerland has the highest rate of billionaires (except for a number of mini states), I think that they will display a great voluntarism and contribute to the solution of this squared circle.
So higher taxes?
Hell yea
[deleted]
Fuck the youth!
Isn’t this just saying, “Swiss vote to fuck over younger generation who have to pay for old folks?”
I think there is a mathematical problem…
At this point, we might just need to cull the grave dodgers before they fuck us and the planet more.
lol why did they need a vote. Who’s gonna say no to more money and work the same number of years or less?
Europe is a gerontocracy.
At this point is Democracy really meaningful?
Not old but where can I get a pension?
[deleted]
They’ll vote to raise the retirement age once they retire if they’re anything like American Boomers.
Kinda predictable outcome no? Do you want more money for less work, or less money for more work?
Future generations are screwed. They are just kicking the tough choices down the road
I am pretty sure that Switzerland has a verh high fertility rate so young people joining the force will keep those higher pensions flowing… right? Right?
Otherwise they will have so mathematical problems to solve…
They can also import millions of third world migrants to solve the demographic issue. I am pretty sure that will work wonderfully
There are a lot of things to love about Switzerland. The clocks, the chocolate, the cheese. I hear the flag is a big plus.
Yeap, put that WWII “neutral” money to work.
IOW: The Swiss vote to repeal mathematical laws.
Meanwhile in the US: “we’ve banned wheelchairs because they weren’t in the Bible”
Yeah the Swiss are just the opposite of the American politicians. They give a shit about their constituents lives, not lining their own pockets with cash. In the US they’ll have you work till you die and have no retirement for the average everyday worker.
I think if humans live longer and are aging slower to where we still have vitality left, then we should expect to work a little longer. Downvote below.
FIFW. “Swiss vote to raise taxes”.
gee I wonder why perhaps not everyone want to work themselves to death
39 comments
>__The Swiss have voted to boost monthly payments for pensioners amid concerns over the rising cost of living in pricey Switzerland, according to a projection. A separate proposal to gradually raise the retirement age to 66 and beyond was clearly rejected in a separate nationwide vote.__
>On Sunday, 58% of Swiss voters are projected to back the “Better living in retirement” initiative, which proposes an additional monthly pension payment to help pensioners struggling to make ends meet in the face of inflation and rising living costs. A majority of cantons are also projected to support the proposal.
>The initiative, launched by the Swiss Trade Union Federation and backed by left-of-centre parties, called for a 13th monthly pension payment each year from the old-age and survivors’ state (known as AHV/AVS) pension scheme – instead of the standard 12 – similar to the additional 13th monthly salary many employees receive in Switzerland.
>The “yes” vote was more emphatic than earlier polls had suggested (up from 53% ten days ahead of the vote) and represents a historic victory in the Alpine nation: the first time that a left-wing initiative has been accepted to boost the Swiss state pension system.
>“The social pact in our country still works,” Pierre-Yves Maillard, president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, told Swiss public television, RTS.
>“This is a wonderful message to all those who have worked all their lives. It is the people who have the power in Switzerland. And I am very proud of our country and our democracy.”
>Social Democrat parliamentarian Samuel Bendahan also underlined the historic aspect of the vote, calling it a “watershed”.
>For once, “we are doing something for normal people” and not just the rich, he told the Keystone-SDA news agency. In a rich country like Switzerland, “everybody should be able to profit from the prosperity”.
>__Protest vote__
>In his analysis, Lukas Golder of the gfs.bern research institute described the result as a “protest vote”.
>“People are protesting against a state that spends a lot elsewhere and finances a lot of things, for example defence and migration,” he told Swiss public television, SRF. “That prompted many in medium-sized businesses to say, ‘Now we can do something for ourselves that will broadly and effectively relieve the financial situation’ for pensioners.”
>The issue sparked huge interest among voters and turnout is projected to reach 59%. In many municipalities across the country, postal voting exceeded or was close to 50%, according to the latest available figures.
>Supporters had argued that the reform of the pension system was both affordable and urgently needed. Under the 13th pension payment initiative, a monthly pension will be paid 13 times a year from 2026. The maximum annual retirement pension will thus increase by CHF2,450 to CHF31,850 for individuals and by CHF3,675 to CHF47,775 for married couples. The extra month represents an increase of 8.33% in the state pension.
>The reform had been fiercely fought by right-wing and centre parties, as well as the country’s main business groups, who had rejected it as financially unsound. The Swiss government and parliament had also officially opposed it.
>__Surprise__
>They had questioned how exactly such a reform – estimated by the government to cost CHF4 billion a year – could be financed and raised fears over the long-term sustainability of the entire state pension system.
>Details on how the initiative will be implemented and funded – through higher social security contributions, taxes or other options – must still be ironed out by the Federal Council and parliament. The initiative text says nothing on this point.
>Monika Rühl, director of Switzerland’s business lobby Economiesuisse, said she was surprised by the extent of the “yes” vote.
>“It’s going to be a difficult time to find equitable solutions, especially from the point of view of young people,” she told RTS.
>As for the solutions, “there are no miracles”, she declared. “We can increase salary deductions, increase VAT, or increase the federal government’s contribution, which I don’t really believe in given the state of federal finances.”
>Céline Amaudruz, a parliamentarian from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, said the right had “only itself to blame” for Sunday’s defeat.
>“We have never been able to give answers in relation to the AVS or to health costs,” she told RTS. “There was obviously a need for a counter-proposal on this subject…that’s the result if you say ‘no’ to everything without making any proposals.”
>__‘No’ to retiring at 66…or later__
>In a separate pension vote on Sunday, 75% of Swiss voters are projected to reject a people’s initiative to gradually raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 over the next decade and then peg it to life expectancy to ensure full financing of the state pension system.
>The proposal by the youth section of the right-wing Radical-Liberal party, entitled “For a Secure and Sustainable Old-Age Pension Scheme”, was supported by right-wing parties but failed to gain traction among a majority of the electorate.
>Opponents – mainly on the left and in the centre of the political spectrum – had denounced it as “anti-social, technocratic and anti-democratic”, and “ill-suited for reforming old-age provision”. The “no” side accused the text’s backers of ignoring the reality experienced by senior citizens on Switzerland’s job market. People over 55 already have difficulty finding a job when they become unemployed, they point out.
>Following Sunday’s results, the young Radical-Liberals sounded downbeat but combative. It was a “black day for young people”, the party said: the combination of the two vote results marked “the worst scenario for the future of the old-age pension system”.
>Increasing life expectancy and more older people mean raising the retirement age is inevitable, it said – not admitting this is “cowardice in the face of reality”. It called on government and parliament to go back to the drawing board and present a plan to “renovate” the pension system.
> “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”
-Alexander Fraser Tytler
Wait you can do that….
I know! Lets just squeeze the younger generations for all they got and make sure nothing will be left for them
What did they answer to the 3rd question, where does the money come from? Or was that one missed out
Good for them. Here Americans would be brainwashed into agreeing privatization of SS/Medicare would be a good thing then complain when they realize it isn’t. Also they’d blame the wrong political party for the issue.
if this this was my country that would mean they are getting lower pensions and retiring later..Democracy works weird in my country.
Fuck I need to move. Canada is the sux.
Guys let’s vote to raise wages and also reduces prices of everything.
Boomer win democracy once again
The problem with direct democracy in a nutshell lol
Oof, i can already feel my taxes going up
Switzerland has the highest rate of billionaires (except for a number of mini states), I think that they will display a great voluntarism and contribute to the solution of this squared circle.
So higher taxes?
Hell yea
[deleted]
Fuck the youth!
Isn’t this just saying, “Swiss vote to fuck over younger generation who have to pay for old folks?”
I think there is a mathematical problem…
At this point, we might just need to cull the grave dodgers before they fuck us and the planet more.
lol why did they need a vote. Who’s gonna say no to more money and work the same number of years or less?
Europe is a gerontocracy.
At this point is Democracy really meaningful?
Not old but where can I get a pension?
[deleted]
They’ll vote to raise the retirement age once they retire if they’re anything like American Boomers.
Kinda predictable outcome no? Do you want more money for less work, or less money for more work?
Future generations are screwed. They are just kicking the tough choices down the road
I am pretty sure that Switzerland has a verh high fertility rate so young people joining the force will keep those higher pensions flowing… right? Right?
Otherwise they will have so mathematical problems to solve…
They can also import millions of third world migrants to solve the demographic issue. I am pretty sure that will work wonderfully
There are a lot of things to love about Switzerland. The clocks, the chocolate, the cheese. I hear the flag is a big plus.
Yeap, put that WWII “neutral” money to work.
IOW: The Swiss vote to repeal mathematical laws.
Meanwhile in the US: “we’ve banned wheelchairs because they weren’t in the Bible”
Yeah the Swiss are just the opposite of the American politicians. They give a shit about their constituents lives, not lining their own pockets with cash. In the US they’ll have you work till you die and have no retirement for the average everyday worker.
One year ago…
French President raises retirement age.
Reddit: Fucking boomer scumbags! That’s OUR money!
Today…
Switzerland votes *not* to raise retirement age.
Reddit: Fucking boomer scumbags! That’s OUR money!
I feel a rude awakening acoming.
Let’s just vote to end debt. All in favor?
I think if humans live longer and are aging slower to where we still have vitality left, then we should expect to work a little longer. Downvote below.
FIFW. “Swiss vote to raise taxes”.
gee I wonder why perhaps not everyone want to work themselves to death