Initiative for simplified naturalization submitted in Bern
Published: Thursday, Nov 21st 2024, 12:20
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Politicians are likely to return to the issue of simplified naturalization soon. The committee behind the popular initiative "For modern citizenship rights (democracy initiative)" submitted around 105,000 certified signatures on Thursday.
The petition for a referendum was launched by the civil society alliance "Aktion Vierviertel". In the past three months alone, around 50,000 people have signed the initiative, the committee announced. 104,603 certified signatures will now be submitted.
The democracy initiative wants to make naturalization easier. It demands that naturalization should be possible after five years of legal residence in Switzerland, regardless of the settlement permit. The prerequisites should be a basic knowledge of a national language and no serious criminal acts.
"Put an end to arbitrariness"
The petition for a referendum is supported by a broad movement from civil society as well as the SP, the Greens, Operation Libero, the Foundation for Direct Democracy, Campax, Unia, Heks and other organizations. According to the initiators, all signatures were collected by the participating organizations and volunteers without the support of professional collection companies.
The successful collection of signatures shows that Switzerland needs to tackle its democratic deficit, the committee wrote. Today, more than a quarter of the resident population does not have the same political rights. This is unworthy of a democracy.
The petition for a referendum aims to "end the arbitrariness that often prevails today". The Democracy Initiative is the first time since the Mitenand Initiative almost fifty years ago that a popular initiative has been submitted that advocates the expansion of migrants' rights, the committee continued.
Reforms have a hard time
Today, only people who have a C residence permit and have lived in Switzerland for at least ten years are eligible for naturalization. According to a study, Switzerland has the strictest naturalization rules in Europe after Cyprus.
In recent years, Parliament has repeatedly said no to projects for easier access to a Swiss passport. Most recently, in the summer of 2023, the National Council rejected several motions from the Green Liberals that sought to lower the hurdles to Swiss citizenship. The conservative parliamentary groups of the SVP, FDP and Center Party were almost unanimously against this.
"It is now up to politicians to further develop democracy in Switzerland," wrote the initiators. Next up is the Federal Council, followed by parliament and - assuming no effective counter-proposal to the petition for a referendum is passed at legislative level from the initiators' point of view - the people and the cantons.
©Keystone/SDA
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