Switzerland introduce a cap to immigration where the country can officially closes its borders after reaching a certain number of immigrants
Imagine a scene worthy of Black Mirror: the number 9,999,999 lights up on the national television screen.
One more person...and the country is officially closed at the constitutional level. By the way, I'm not even exaggerating here.
This is exactly what Switzerland is discussing today, as a bill was submitted for discussion today.
In June, Switzerland will submit an initiative to a referendum, proposing:
to establish a strict population ceiling in the Constitution: no more than 10 million people by 2050
No one is mistaken, you heard right, I didn't mistype: a demographic limit for 25 years.
The initiator is the Swiss People's Party, the largest force in parliament, for whom the anti-immigration agenda has long been a platform.
What is Switzerland discussing if the figure approaches 10 millions?
- Access to permanent residence will immediately be tightened (although Switzerland is already one of the most inaccessible countries for permanent residence);
- Refugees and their families will be the first to be subject to restrictions;
- Temporary statuses will be reviewed with particular care;
- International agreements, including freedom of movement with the European Union, will be renegotiated.
Is this even legal?
Yes, because Switzerland is a direct democracy.
If an initiative passes a referendum and does NOT contradict the fundamental principles, it becomes part of the Constitution, even if:
- the government itself is against it,
- businesses warn of a labor shortage,
- the economy objectively depends on labor migration.
This scares me more than any other restrictions, because for the first time, the government is declaring, "We don't care about economic growth or indicators; we'll stick to this figure for the next 25 years because it's written into our constitution in the national interest (something like déjà vu, I've heard the phrase "national interest" somewhere before)."
Swiss businesses, by the way, are calling the initiative "economic chaos," since Switzerland's population is already 9 million, and they want to take urgent measures as soon as it reaches 9.5 million. In the context of time, that's NOW.
Canada, by the way, isn't far behind and is essentially doing the same thing, using the term "national interest" and masterfully manipulating the language of crises:
- housing crisis,
- overburdened healthcare system,
- infrastructure "can't cope."
The general trend, as always in recent months:
- permanent residence is becoming the exception;
- temporariness is the new norm;
- mobility is a new privilege, not a right.
Temporary residents in any country will be the black sheep, as always.
Well, we'll continue to watch and fight.
Oleksandra Melnykova, Canadian Immigration and Refugee Consultant.
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