The cost of health? Opponents of the initiative warned it would drastically drive up consumer prices.
Keystone / Alexandra Wey
Swiss voters are set to overwhelmingly reject an initiative to revamp the country’s economy and bring it into line with “planetary boundaries”. Polling ended at midday; final results are expected by early evening.
It’s not so often that the result of a national vote in Switzerland is called so confidently in advance. In the case of the “environmental responsibility initiative”, however, the writing was on the wall. In the lead-up to ballot day, surveys never suggested that the Young Greens’ proposal stood much of a chance.
First indications after voting ended on Sunday don’t suggest any major surprises. At midday, a clear rejection was predicted by the gfs.bern research institute, though the exact extent is still unclear. The institute’s Lukas Golder told Swiss public television, SRF, that the proposal may only garner around 30% support.
Final results will trickle in from the country’s 26 cantons throughout the afternoon.
In harmony with nature
The initiative, brought by the youth section of the left-wing Green Party, called for a constitutional amendment requiring the Swiss economy to respect “planetary boundaries” – a scientific concept of thresholds beyond which nature can no longer regenerate itself.
To achieve this, factors such as CO2 emissions, biodiversity loss and water usage would have to be seriously curbed. Backers of the initiative – including the left-wing Social Democrats and a coalition of NGOs – did not lay out concrete measures for exactly how this would be done, although they hinted that big industry and the ultra-rich would bear the brunt. Ultimately, parliament would have to work out a plan of action within ten years, the text specified.
Opponents – the government and a majority in parliament – argued that the initiative would be ruinous for the economy. The scale of the changes would effectively turn Switzerland into a developing economy, some critics said. The government also raised the possibility of companies moving abroad to escape the new rules, taking jobs with them. Consumers would also suffer, according to the government. “Much of what makes up the standard of living in Switzerland today would have to be given up,” it warned.
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Swiss ‘environmental responsibility’ initiative: essential for the left, unacceptable for the right
Scant attention
The sense that the vote was a foregone conclusion might have been one factor behind the rather low-key campaign. According to Année Politique Suisse, a research group at the University of Bern, media coverage of the initiative was well below average. Other reasons for this may have been the low campaign budgets (on both sides) and “competing media events” such as the resignation of Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd.
Whether the initiative can yet have an impact on public opinion remains to be seen. In Switzerland, even failed proposals can claim some success if they at least manage to foist an idea onto the agenda. In the past, notions such as Universal Basic Income gained public attention even though they were walloped at the ballot box.
In the lead-up to this vote, however, the media was sceptical about whether even this consolation was possible. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung reckoned that such “utopian” ideas can provoke counter-reactions and deepen polarisation; similarly, the Tages-Anzeiger warned that such radical proposals undermine more pragmatic – and non-anti-capitalist – approaches to tackling climate change.
Sympathy was limited to a Le Temps editorial, which – while it didn’t stretch to backing the idea – at least said it should have sparked debate. Climate change is a serious concern, especially for young people, the paper wrote. And the Young Greens managed to collect 100,000 signatures to force a vote. In this context, they deserved more than what the paper called a “non-campaign”.
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What’s a people’s or citizens’ initiative?
