Council of States sends SVP asylum proposals to committee
Published: Wednesday, Sep 25th 2024, 12:00
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In contrast to the National Council the previous day, there was no extraordinary debate on asylum in the Council of States on Wednesday. The small chamber rejected three SVP motions, including a motion to withdraw the right to family reunification for temporarily admitted persons, to the responsible committee.
The National Council adopted an identical proposal on Tuesday. Even before the discussion in the Council of States, the issue had an electrifying effect: the SP announced on Tuesday afternoon that more than 100,000 digital signatures had been collected against the proposal within 24 hours of the decision in the National Council.
Mathias Zopfi (Greens/GL) tabled the motion for referral back to the committee. He said that the SVP's asylum motions raised fundamental rights issues, which is why the committee should first take a differentiated look at them before the Council decides on them.
The second proposal tabled in the Council of States wanted asylum seekers who have already crossed a safe country not to be recognized as refugees here in Switzerland. The National Council had rejected a similar proposal the previous day.
A third motion by Hannes Germann (SVP/SH) called for the creation of transit zones near the country's borders to carry out all asylum procedures. Here too, the National Council had rejected an identical motion the previous day. The Federal Council recommended that the motions all be rejected beforehand.
The Council also referred a fourth proposal by Werner Salzmann (SVP/BE), which was thematically part of the asylum session but not formally part of it, back to the State Policy Committee (SPK-S). According to this proposal, data on illegal stays in the country should be systematically exchanged in future. The large chamber had adopted an identical proposal the previous day.
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