Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M • Hacker News Board

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#131

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:11 PM UTC

mrazomor wrote: post #71

shevy-java wrote: post #7

Great that they can vote, but this is also stupid. Plus, it works both ways, so if Switzerland wants to add a cap to limit movement then it won't be able to enjoy free movement in the EU either. I totally understand why Norway and Switzerland do not want to join the EU; the EU has tons of problems, but this kind of cherry-picking is simply unfair to the other EU members. (Also, the EU has to stop expanding. It consta…

It's not about free movement, but "free trade"/joint market. Having rich countries support its poor neighbors is an ingenious solution to improving your quality of life. You impose your rules, regulations and monetary policy, they get capital for internal improvements. If there's no huge waste or theft (which sadly exists), you end up with wide, strong and stable continent-level middle class. Which is great goal, as…

> It's not about free movement, but "free trade"/joint market

This is entirely about free movement and immigration.

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#132

Post by kuboble » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:12 PM UTC

Being in Switzerland it looks to me like this is a really tough referendum.

Both sides have very good arguments and from the side it looks like either way the Switzerland has to give up some asoects of its high quality of life.

If the initiative succeeds, Switzerland will get a large hit from the cancelation of a lot of bilateral agreements with the EU.

If the population exceeds 10M then the current rail and road infrastructure will not handle it well.

I have already been on a train which refused to move due overload. And it would only depart if enough people have disembarked. The autobahn are already having hours long traffic jams at peak hours and with extra million people it will multiply.

And it's almost impossible to significantly improve the throughput of rail and autobahn without extreme projects.

It looks like a lose / lose situation is a sense and a people are going to decide which hit to take.

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#133

Post by skywhopper » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:12 PM UTC

fractallyte wrote: post #9

jrflo wrote: post #3

So this is essentially a way to reduce immigration to the country? And if they get close to the cap they will "need to take measures, particularly in the areas of asylum and family reunification." Would be curious to learn more about why this is being proposed.

It's being proposed in order to maintain quality of life. No one wants to be overcrowded. This is a sane solution: collectively agree on the maximum tolerable population. Then it's down to individual responsibility to obey the norms of one's society. Edit: unless you're Swiss, your opinion is irrelevant. Swiss voters have a right to decide how they want to live. They're not beholden to EU laws; they can make their ow…

It’s ludicrous to think that 10 million is the “maximum tolerable population” for Switzerland. This is a racist, isolationist move and an attempt to stir up hatred among the population.

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#134

Post by ceejayoz » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:13 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #119

tonfa wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially after we saw how happy the EU was to negotiate (they didn't budge) when https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Swiss_immigration_initiat... passed. The new initiative is basically the same, but with no leeway to ignore it. (that said I suspect if it passes, there will be something tied to the bilateral referendum in 2027/28 to try to supersede it)

> if it passes, there will be something tied to the bilateral referendum in 2027/28 to try to supersede it This is my thinking, too. If it really comes down to Chexit-or-nothing, we’ll have another referendum.

That was the UK's thinking, too. "We won't have a hard Brexit! Of course they'll negotiate a plan!"

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#135

Post by criddell » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC

FabCH wrote: post #67

fractallyte wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's being proposed in order to maintain quality of life. No one wants to be overcrowded. This is a sane solution: collectively agree on the maximum tolerable population. Then it's down to individual responsibility to obey the norms of one's society. Edit: unless you're Swiss, your opinion is irrelevant. Swiss voters have a right to decide how they want to live. They're not beholden to EU laws; they can make their ow…

Well I _am_ Swiss. You missed the part where we _voluntarily_ chose to enter into a contract with the EU that does in fact beholden us to EU laws. We can go back on that contract, but breaking your word is something that people remember for a reason.

Does the contract contain a section on breaking the agreement?

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#136

Post by Yizahi » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #19

amunozo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Way worse than Brexit, as Switzerland is much smaller, landlocked and had no colonies or anything like that. This would be a suicide for the country. Just populism to mobilize the electorate.

This is only about the Schengen, Switzerland is not a part of the EU, and even before the Schengen, the borders between the EU and Switzerland weren't heavily controlled. I got in trouble at German airport for going by train from Lausanne to Milan, and then plane to Berlin, I had no entry step into the Schengen because they didn't bother doing that on trains (pre-Schengen). Everything else is negotiated under separat…

I wish Schengen would one day apply mirror visit policies, to make countries taste their own poison. Like - "Ok UK, you want out of Schengen? Fine. You will now pay 162 EUR for a single one time entry per person. Thank you very much for your interest.". Or "Oh, you want a 5 year multi entry visa, which EU can grant for like 30-60 EUR? It will be reciprocal 1086 EUR for you. It was a pleasure of doing business with you, sir.".

And do the same with every other renegade, including reciprocal mirror tariffs and stuff. Want to play games? Let's play them together.

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#137

Post by jltsiren » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #44

tonfa wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is only about the Schengen, Switzerland is not a part of the EU Not really, the bilateral are a package and the EU doesn't want CH to pick and chose. If freedom of movement stops, a whole lot of thing also stop. It happened the last time SVP got something similar voted on (introduction of quota for foreign immigration), on a smaller scale (erasmus and horizon which are the higher ed and academic research colla…

> the bilateral are a package and the EU doesn't want CH to pick and chose It really depends who is in power where when and if the 10mm limit is crossed. If there is a conservative in Paris or Berlin, chances are Switzerland can simply abrogate Schengen.

Schengen is a minor treaty about border controls. The actual issue are the Bilateral I agreements, which link free movement with many aspects of free trade. If Switzerland drops that, it needs new free trade agreements, which take many years to negotiate and ratify.

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#138

Post by foldr » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

herbst wrote: post #62

naths88 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is completely irrational. But the UDC knows it, pure manipulation of the masses.

It's not completely irrational. It's a fixed placative number yes. But reality is also we don't produce more food than we already do. More people means more import and it's actually lowering the quality of the available food, making shopping more complicated, etc. And that's just the food quality aspect, what about pensions? Health care? ...

>what about pensions? Health care?

What about health care if there's no more 'room' for the immigrants who make up a substantial fraction of health workers in Switzerland?

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#139

Post by amtamt » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:16 PM UTC

FabCH wrote: post #20

amtamt wrote: post #2

This seems a much more rational approach than pure political agenda driven fear mongering campaigns against immigrants.

This is about Swiss - EU relations. Everyone understands that a yes vote means the Swiss equivalent of „exiting the EU“. All Swiss-EU contracts contain a „Guillotine clause“ where if one contract is broken, all are immediately gone. The initiative explicitly requires breaking the freedom of movement contract, which immediately severs all other links to the EU. This _is_ pure political agenda driven campaign using imm…

Of course it is political agenda driven, but at least from surface it does not have _fear mongering_ vibe, comparing for example with Sweden which did not conclude citizenship applications and applied back dated refusal. Also politician openly attribting all immigrants as source of increasing crime and lowering education levels.

10m is larger than current resident counts, so people moving in can decide now if they want to move with uncertainty. It is not what everyone would like, but it is more understandable that recent Swedish changes, for example.

Re: Switzerland wil have a referendum to cap population at 10M

#140

Post by metalman » Mon, Jun 08, 2026, 8:16 PM UTC

transcriptase wrote: post #22

amunozo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Way worse than Brexit, as Switzerland is much smaller, landlocked and had no colonies or anything like that. This would be a suicide for the country. Just populism to mobilize the electorate.

Makes far more sense than the “population must increase forever” pyramid scheme the rest of the West is running. Check out Canada for a look at what happens when you try to juice GDP via population growth at the expense of literally everything else.

Here in Nova Scotia, Canada, mass imigration is driving the most intense building of everything boom, ever. And it just went up a notch. Plenty of Swiss imigrants as well.