Switzerland to Vote on Capping Population at 10 Million

Switzerland will hold a referendum in June on whether to cap its population at 10 million until 2050 by limiting immigration, sharply illustrating how anti-foreigner sentiment in Europe has hardened since the continent’s migration crisis a decade ago.

If successful, the vote on June 14 would oblige the government to take measures over the next quarter-century to limit immigration to Switzerland, where the population currently stands at roughly 9 million.

Supporters of the initiative say those measures should include making it harder for foreigners to gain permanent residency, once the population passes 9.5 million, and revising the country’s agreement with the European Union that allows for free movement between Switzerland and the rest of the continent. (Switzerland is not part of the E.U.)

Both the government and Parliament voted to oppose the initiative but the referendum has been triggered automatically because more than 100,000 citizens have signed a petition in support of a vote.

The petition was promoted by the Swiss People’s Party, a right-wing party that holds roughly a third of seats in the Swiss Parliament. Campaigners for the referendum said overpopulation had created overburdened Swiss infrastructure, driven up rents and eroded local identity. “Our citizens have had enough,” Thomas Matter, a lawmaker for the Swiss People’s Party, said during a heated debate on Wednesday in Parliament, according to SRF, the Swiss broadcaster.

Opponents of the idea said it would dent the Swiss economy, make it harder to attract foreign workers to fill labor shortages and harm Switzerland’s relationship with the European Union. The population cap would plunge Switzerland “into chaos and isolation,” Jürg Grossen, a centrist political leader, said on Wednesday, according to SRF.