<\/p>\n
A poster reading “To break away from Europe at a time like this – No to the SVP Chaos Initiative”, featuring images of President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, urging people to vote against the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) referendum titled “No to a Switzerland with 10 million inhabitants” photographed in Bern, May 18, 2026. (Christian Beutler\/Keystone via AP)<\/p>\n
Christian Beutler\/Christian Beutler\/ThirdParty via<\/p>\n
An electoral poster for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) popular initiative “No 10-million-Switzerland” is pictured on a cow pasture in Villnachern, Switzerland, May, 10, 2026. (Manuel Geisser\/Keystone via AP)<\/p>\n
Manuel Geisser\/Manuel Geisser\/ThirdParty via AP<\/p>\n
An electoral poster for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) popular initiative “No 10-million-Switzerland” is pictured in a vineyard owned by Olivier Agassis, a winemaker and member of the Vaud cantonal parliament, in Bavois, Switzerland, May 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott\/Keystone via AP)<\/p>\n
Jean-Christophe Bott\/Jean-Christophe Bott\/ThirdParty <\/p>\n
A poster reading “Isolate ourselves from Europe? Certainly not now! – No to the SVP\/UDC Chaos initiative” featuring images of President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, urging people to vote against the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) referendum titled “No to a Switzerland with 10 million inhabitants” photographed in Lausanne, May 27, 2026. (Laurent Gillieron\/Keystone via AP)<\/p>\n
Laurent Gillieron\/Laurent Gillieron\/ThirdParty via<\/p>\n
An electoral poster for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) popular initiative “No 10-million-Switzerland” is pictured on a field, near Zweisimmen, Switzerland, May 2, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott\/Keystone via AP)<\/p>\n
Jean-Christophe Bott\/\/Jean-Christophe Bott\/\/ThirdParty<\/p>\n
GENEVA (AP) \u2014 Swiss voters will take up an unprecedented proposal to limit Switzerland\u2019s population, part of a longtime push by right-wing leaders to cap the number of foreigners who migrate to the rich and economically vibrant Alpine country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A national vote on whether to cap Switzerland’s population at 10 million in coming decades culminates with in-person balloting on Sunday. Swiss democracy gives voters a direct say in policymaking through referendums typically held four times a year.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The proposal is backed by the populist Swiss People\u2019s Party, which has the most seats in parliament and has for years thrived off and fomented an isolationist streak in Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency suggested that it could be a close contest.<\/p>\n
A self-inflicted wound, or salvation for Swiss-ness?<\/p>\n
Supporters of the initiative dislike an influx of expatriates from the neighboring European Union, and say Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programs, natural resources and way of life have been strained under demographic growth.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Critics say passage would amount to a self-inflicted wound, arguing that Switzerland benefits from closer EU ties, and gets needed labor, expertise and skills from foreigners in sectors like healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals and technology.<\/p>\n
The federal government and Parliament oppose the idea. EconomieSuisse, a leading association of Swiss businesses, blasted it as an \u201cabsurd proposal\u201d that threatens Switzerland\u2019s security and prosperity.<\/p>\n
Bernard Bapst, a People\u2019s Party lawmaker in the Fribourg region and a former customs official, rejected any risk to security and said \u201cvarious forms of criminality\u201d have risen since Switzerland adopted an open-border policy.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Since Switzerland and the EU eased restrictions on citizens living and working across their borders in 2002, the Swiss population has grown by 23%, to 9.1 million as of the end of last year. Economic output has also increased, up 24% over the same period, government data show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the victim of our own success,\u201d said Reto F\u00f6llmi, a professor of international economics at the University of St. Gallen in northern Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Passage would force the government’s hand<\/p>\n
A \u201cyes\u201d vote would require the Swiss government to take action to cap the population at 10 million by 2050. If the population reaches 9.5 million before then, it would have to enact restrictions on asylum, family reunification and residency permits, and could be forced to scrap Switzerland\u2019s EU deal on the free movement of people altogether.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Because of the long-term horizon, experts say immediate economic and demographic fallout would be limited.<\/p>\n
Rene Schwok, a political science professor at the University of Geneva, said a \u201cyes\u201d victory would strain Switzerland\u2019s ties with Brussels and cloud the future of foreign investment in Switzerland: The EU is by far its biggest trading partner.<\/p>\n
The 38-country Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported that Switzerland had a foreign-born population of 32% as of 2024. It trails only Luxembourg, where more than half of residents were foreign-born, and Australia.<\/p>\n
Migration long an issue across Europe<\/p>\n
International migration has long been a sensitive issue in Europe, as nations grapple with an aging population and increasing anti-foreigner sentiment. While that sentiment in other European countries centers on migrants from the developing world, most foreigners in Switzerland \u2013 by far \u2013 are Europeans.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Swiss voters have repeatedly tackled the immigration issue over the last half-century. Only one such referendum \u2014 \u201cAgainst mass immigration\u201d in 2014 \u2014 narrowly passed, after campaigners stoked fears about overpopulation and rising numbers of Muslims in the country.<\/p>\n
No country has ever voted to limit its population, said Philippe Wanner, an expert in demography at the University of Geneva, though countries like China have had policies to curb population growth.<\/p>\n
Many nations limit immigration, said Etienne Piguet, a professor at the Institute of Geography at the University of Neuchatel.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
In Switzerland, the debate has simmered for decades.<\/p>\n
Around the turn of the century, as anti-immigration feeling was rising in Switzerland, then-President Adolf Ogi insisted: \u201cWe live from foreigners \u2026 we need laborers for tourism … we need intelligent people in Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A poster reading “To break away from Europe at a time like this – No to the SVP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[41805,41803,41802,197,25937,27927,41801,27921,27925,41804,17,41800],"class_list":["post-80548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-adolf-ogi","tag-bernard-bapst","tag-etienne-piguet","tag-europe","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-philippe-wanner","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-32502-ap-online-europe-news","tag-rene-schwok","tag-switzerland","tag-switzerland-referendum-population-10-million"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116724377178796421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}