Voters focus on the environment and drug use: Swiss voters will cast ballots this November on issues ranging from the right of environmental organisations to appeal controversial construction projects, to the decriminalisation of cannabis, Swiss News examines the issues and the potentially far-reaching consequences of voters' decisions.
| Auteur | Armitage, Tom |
| Fonction | POLITICS |
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Switzerland's four million-plus registered voters will be asked to make five decisions on November 30, involving environmental groups' rights to appeal building plans, drug-use policies, changes to the statutory retirement age and laws governing sex offenders.
In total, there are four popular initiatives to be voted on and one change to the existing law on narcotics to be approved. Under Swiss law, popular initiatives to change Federal acts require at least 100,000 signatures while 50,000 signatures must be collected to force a vote on whether to approve a change in the law.
The Swiss Federal Council and the upper and lower houses of parliament recommend voters reject all four popular initiatives, but approve the change in the Federal law on narcotics.
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Preserving the green
The issue attracting the most attention ahead of the vote is one opponents say affects the nation's future as a renowned tourist destination and place of natural beauty: namely, the scrapping of Swiss environmental organisations' rights to appeal construction projects.
Those opposing the initiative use images of Swiss environmental 'icons', which they argue could not have been saved were it not for a clause in the current law that allows Swiss organisations to appeal against construction plans that could have a negative impact on the environment.
"These areas, like the Aletsch and Lake Geneva, have been made UNESCO World Heritage sites due to their environmental importance and that would have not been possible without the ability of environmental associations to appeal," said Beat Jans, who is responsible for politics and international affairs at Swiss environmental organisation ProNatura in Basel.
ProNatura is part of a broad coalition of pro-environmental organisations that currently have the right to lodge complaints against planned construction projects, and oppose the popular initiative.
The initiative is led by the Zurich arm of the pro-business Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP) that wants to get rid of the so-called Verbandsbeschwerderecht, or Associations' Right to Appeal. The FDP committee in charge of the initiative says the current law unnecessarily blocks construction projects that could bring economic growth to Switzerland.
Scrapping the right to appeal would only apply in cases when a construction project had been approved by voters in a referendum or by local parliaments. Private individuals...
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