Swiss referendums, 2014

Switzerland
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Switzerland
Constitution Human rights
Federal Council Members (by seniority) Doris Leuthard (Vice President) Ueli Maurer Didier Burkhalter Simonetta Sommaruga Johann Schneider-Ammann (President) Alain Berset Guy Parmelin Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr Federal administration
Federal Assembly Council of States (members) National Council (members) Political parties
Elections Voting Recent elections Federal: 2007 2011 2015 Referendums Mandatory Optional Popular initiative
Federal courts Federal Supreme Court Federal Criminal Court Federal Administrative Court Federal Patent Court
Foreign relations European Union
Administrative divisions Cantons Municipalities
Other countries Atlas

Twelve referendums were held in Switzerland during 2014.

February referendums

Three referendums were held on 9 February on abortion, immigration and the rail network. The abortion referendum proposed that abortions would no longer be funded through health insurance, but should be paid for privately by the mother.^[1]

The anti-immigration proposal was supported by the Swiss People's Party,^[2] and opposes the free movement of workers between the EU and Switzerland, which was introduced following a 2000 referendum.^[3]

The rail network proposal combined a number of existing federal and cantonal funds into a single permanent rail infrastructure fund, and defined a programme of upgrade projects of about 42 billion francs over 40 years, with a mechanism for the federal council to present regular updates to the programme. The initial programme includes a number of speed increases to intercity rail routes and S-Bahn expansion around Bern, Basel, and Geneva.^[4]

Results

The abortion referendum, which would have dropped abortion coverage from public health insurance, failed by a large margin, with about 70% of participating voters rejecting the proposal.^[5]

The immigration restriction proposal passed by a narrow margin, with 50.3% of participating voters supporting the measure; the proposal was also approved by the required majority of cantons.^[6] The immigration measure requires the Swiss government to either renegotiate the Swiss-EU agreement of free movement of people within three years, or to revoke the agreement. The proposal mandates re-introduction of strict quotas for various immigration categories, and imposes limits on the ability of foreigners to bring in their family members to live in Switzerland, to access Swiss social security benefits, and to request asylum.^[7] Opinion polls ahead of the vote showed the lead for the opponents of the immigration measure, but that lead began to close as the day of the referendum approached.^[7]

The referendum on public rail passed with 62% of votes in favour.

Aftermath

Due to the passing of the initiative to limit immigration, Switzerland has effectively rejected granting Croatia free movement of persons. As retaliation, the EU has excluded Switzerland from the Erasmus Programme and Horizon 2020, the largest educational and research European program ever.

May referendums

Four referendums were held in Switzerland on 18 May 2014. An initiative on minimum wage proposed that the government should promote the adoption of minimum wages in collective agreements, and set a national minimum wage of 22 francs an hour,^[8] which would have been the highest minimum wage in the world.^[9] The other referendums included changes to primary health care, a lifetime ban on convicted pedophiles working with children, and the procurement of the JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft.^[10]

Results

September referendums

Two referendums were held on 28 September, with voters asked whether they supported the creation of a unified health insurance fund and the "End to VAT discrimination in the hospitality industry" popular initiative.^[11] The health insurance proposal was supported by the Social Democratic Party and the Green Party, together with several user and consumer organisations.^[11] The VAT initiative was launched by GastroSuisse, and sought to reduce the level of VAT paid in restaurants from the standard 8% to 2.5%, the same level paid at food stands. However, the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly both opposed the proposal, claiming it would reduce tax take by around CHF 750 million.^[11]

Both proposals were rejected by voters.

Results

November referendums

A further three referendums were held on 30 November on the country's gold reserves, abolishing the flat tax and limiting immigration.^[12] All three were rejected by voters.

The gold reserves proposal would have required the Swiss National Bank to have gold reserves of at least 20% of the value of the assets of the Swiss National Bank, and see all Swiss gold currently held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York returned to Switzerland.^[13] The popular initiative was started by Swiss People's Party MP Luzi Stamm and two other MPs, with the 100,000 signatures required for a referendum obtained by early 2013.^[14] The proposal was opposed by the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss government, as it would limit the SNB's ability to print money.^[14]

The flat tax abolition proposal called for residents and non-working foreigners to be taxed based only on their income and their assets, ^[12] whilst the immigration cap proposal put forward by Ecopop called for preserving natural resources by limiting immigration to Switzerland to 0.2% of the population per year.^[12]

Results

References

Elections and referendums in Switzerland
Parliamentary elections	1848 1851 1854 1857 1860 1863 1866 1869 1872 1875 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Referendums	1798 1802 1848 1866 1872 1874 1875 1876 1877 1879 1880 1882 1884 1885 1887 1889 1890 1891 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1905 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1915 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016