Switzerland is set to hold a vote on a 10 million population cap amid a record immigration surge.
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the nation’s leading right-wing party, has scheduled the referendum for June 14.
The proposal from the largest party in Switzerland’s parliament, titled “No to a 10 million Switzerland” would implement a population cap into the constitution.
If the proposal passes, the Swiss government would be required to limit new arrivals to the country if the population reaches 9.5 million before 2050.
Under the measures, new arrivals would include asylum seekers along with their families.
Switzerland’s population only passed 7 million in the mid-1990s, but the country is now on course to hit the SVP-set threshold before mid-century.
The SVP, reacting to the on a population of over 9 million, has implemented a “protection clause” with the EU.
The clause allows Switzerland to suspend free movement between it and EU countries in the “event of serious economic or social problems arising from the free movement of person”.
This banner, from campaigning in 2024, reads ‘No 10 million Switzerland! sustainability initiative’
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If the 10 million threshold is permanently crossed, authorities would be required to take all available measures to comply with the limit.
If crossed for two years, one measure Switzerland would terminate its agreement with the EU on the free movement of people.
Switzerland has grown roughly five times faster than the average neighbouring EU state.
Since 1960, the increase has been close to 70 per cent.
SVP Parliament members protested with a man wearing a cutout of Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis
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Foreign nationals comprise 27 per cent of residents, and 41 per cent of the permanent population above 15 have a migrant background.
Most migrants to Switzerland are from fellow European countries, but there is also a significant Middle East and North African population.
This could strain Switzerland’s relationship with the EU as free movement is a tenet of one of the treaties that give the landlocked European country access to the single market.
The SVP, responding to critics, said lawmakers: “could not have made it clearer that they don’t care about the concerns of the population, which is increasingly suffering from uncontrolled immigration”.
Business association Economisuisse lambasted the proposal as a “chaos initiative”.
“Our country will continue to depend on labour migration in the future,” the group said in a paper with the Swiss Employers Association, adding that companies would move abroad without foreign workers.
In November, a poll conducted by research institute LeeWas suggested the proposal was more likely to pass than not.
Around 48 per cent of respondents said they were in favour or inclined to be in favour of the proposal, with 41 per cent of respondents against, and 11 per cent still undecided.
SVP encouraged voters to turn out on social media.
The party said: “A small economic elite profits from the excessive immigration – the majority of the Swiss population suffers.”
