ASNI, “No is catastrophic for our quality of life!”
Action for a Neutral and Independent Switzerland recalls the application of Article 121b of the Federal Constitution, for which immigration remains an internal affair
Action for a Neutral and Independent Switzerland (ASNI) has taken note that the majority of voters and
Cantons rejected the popular initiative “for a moderate immigration” on Sunday, September 27, 2020.
According to the well-known organization based in Lauterbrunnen, “the opportunity to renegotiate within a reasonable period of time respectively stop the exaggerated immigration from the EU area has been missed. The Federal Council and the majority of the Parliament have so far abstained from any action to curb the emigration of millions of people. The initiative accepted by the people and the cantons on February 9, 2014 has not been implemented. Article 121b of the Federal Constitution continues to stipulate that immigration should be managed independently in the interests of Switzerland.”
And again, “Even this latest ‘no’ vote does not change this mandate one iota. According to the Constitution, immigration from the European Union must be controlled in the interests of Switzerland, otherwise the pressure on the labour market, social insurance and ecology will continue to increase unabated”.
Great concern about the labour market
ASNI is very concerned about the fact that the regulation of the labour market with the so-called accompanying measures, the extension of social insurance, among other things with the bridging pension for the over 60s, and the continued adoption of EU law are harming Switzerland’s competitiveness: “The consequences are already serious and will certainly get worse: less innovation, fewer apprenticeships, rising unemployment and higher rents as well as painful tax increases.
Despite the rejection of the restriction initiative, the association headed by the St. Gallen lawyer Lukas Reimann calls on the Federal Council to start negotiations with the EU Commission on the definition of free movement. The bilateral agreement obliges the contractual partners, in case of negative consequences of the free movement – among others the situation of older workers (question of the bridge pension) – to return to the negotiating table with the aim of finding solutions to the problems.
A “brutalization of the voting campaign”
In addition, ASNI is concerned about the brutalization of voting campaigns to the detriment of direct democracy.
The marginalization of the arguments in favor and the organized destruction of propaganda posters have reached a new dimension. It is also disgraceful that the Federal Council and the media accept this unworthy way of doing politics without exception.
Action for a Neutral and Independent Switzerland has conducted a fact-based campaign for the vote. The postponement of the voting date from May to the end of September (Sunday 27th) because of the coronavirus required a great will to resist. It managed to gather the necessary resources and unleash a passionate commitment among its members.
Specifically, “the terror campaign and the ‘threats’ of the Federal Council together with the lobby of the large industrial groups Economiesuisse, the trade unions and the biased publishing companies exploited the insecurity created in the population by the coronavirus crisis. The opponents of the initiative fed the fear that a ‘yes’ vote would have weakened the Swiss economy enormously. Even representatives of the Federal Council did not hesitate to repeat entire litany of lies”.
According to ASNI, “the claim that a successful restriction initiative would cause Switzerland to lose access to the internal market was a lie. Equally misleading to the voting public was the designation ‘Termination Initiative’. This perfidious deception of the voting population made the already insecure citizens believe that, with a ‘yes’ to the initiative, all bilateral agreements with the EU would fall”.
A Federal Council “that obeys the EU”.
“The network formed by the Federal Council, the federal administration, business associations, trade unions and the media,
with unfair and sometimes crude claims, this time it has succeeded. This does not bode well for the future of Switzerland’s independence, direct democracy and quality of life!” ASNI is convinced that the same actors will obediently give in to Brussels’ demands for a rapid signing of the framework agreement, which would be catastrophic for Swiss sovereignty.
According to director Werner Gartenmann, “the battle against the framework agreement will be fought with the EU, together with allies. At the same time, we will have to reflect on how sovereignty in migration policy can be regained. The implementation of the existing regulations of the Federal Constitution must therefore be strongly addressed once again. Because with today’s ‘no’ vote, the problem of exaggerated immigration is not solved.”
Finally, “the main battle of the Action for a Neutral and Independent Switzerland remains the prevention of an accession to the European Union. On this nothing has changed, not even with the ‘no’ to the initiative for limitation on September 27.”