Dozens of issues are on the agenda during the spring session of Switzerland’s parliament, to be held from March 2nd to March 20th.
As both chambers of the Parliament – the National Council and the Council of States – reconvene, deputies will weigh in on dozens of new and longstanding issues.
These are just some of them:
Strengthening Swiss neutrality
Legislators will discuss the initiative spearheaded by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), along with another right-wing group, Pro-Schweiz, which is calling for protecting Switzerland’s tradition of neutrality.
Concretely, they seek to define neutrality in legal terms and enshrine them in the Constitution, to prevent the government from adopting sanctions or taking sides in armed conflicts.
The ‘Compass’ initiative
The government is proposing that when the newest package of agreements with the EU is put to a referendum in 2027, a majority of the people would be required for ratification, but not a majority of the cantons.
The deputies will debate a motion submitted by the Liberal-Radical party, which wants the referendum to be subject to approval of the majority of cantons as well.
Transit tax
The SVP is suggesting that anyone driving through Switzerland from one neighbouring country to another – that is, foreign motorists – should be obligated to pay a transit fee.
Specifically, its aim is to reduce peak traffic on the national road network with a traffic-dependent transit fee.
The MPs will continue their debate on this issue during the March session.
READ MORE: How Switzerland’s new ‘tourist transit tax’ for motorists could impact you
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Criminal record of EU citizens
Deputies will debate a parliamentary motion asking the government to ensure that information on the prior convictions of citizens of the European Union wishing to settle in Switzerland be systematically required from their country of origin.
The Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the EU does not provide for the possibility of requiring a criminal record extract as part of a residence permit application; this option currently exists only in cases of ‘well-founded suspicions’.
And a somewhat related topic…
Disclosing the nationality of foreign offenders
Lawmakers will consider a move toward full disclosure ‒ such as age, gender, and nationality – of people arrested by police.
The instigators of this measure, the SVP, argue that this particular information is important for transparency reasons.
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Double-barrelled surnames
This used to be allowed in Switzerland until 2013, but then the law was changed, so current regulations prohibit spouses from using a double surname.
Parliamentarians will weigh in on the proposal from an SVP deputy to backtrack, so spouses can once again use a double surname.
READ MORE: Double surnames to make a comeback in Switzerland
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Encouraging retired people to return to work
As part of its larger pension package, MPs will talk about various proposals aimed at creating stronger incentives for people nearing the retirement age – or those already retired ‒ to remain in the workforce.
This is all the more important given the chronic shortage of employees in certain sectors of the labour market.
You can see all the subjects raised during the spring session of the parliament here for the National Council, and here for the Council of States.
