A population cap is not a solution for Switzerland

Because Switzerland is not a parking garage. You can't just say: full is full, lower the barrier, find another parking garage. A country works differently. There are hospitals that need staff. SMEs that are looking for skilled workers. Construction sites that don't build on their own. Restaurants, hotels, care homes, workshops, laboratories, start-ups. Everywhere there is a need for people who get stuck in. And it is precisely these people that we are already lacking today due to demographic change.

The SVP calls its initiative the "sustainability initiative". That sounds like clean air, healthy forests and responsibility for the future. But this packaging contains something completely different: a rigid population cap. And ultimately the termination of the free movement of persons. A direct attack on our quality of life.

The bilateral agreements are not just a pile of paper in Bern for Switzerland. They secure Switzerland access to our most important market. They help companies to export. They strengthen research, jobs, transport and supply. They are part of the reason why we and our small country are doing so well. Those who tamper with them are not playing with symbols. They are playing with our jobs, wages and security.

Of course, growth also brings challenges. Nobody voluntarily stands in a traffic jam and thinks: fantastic, more of this. Nobody spends months looking for an apartment and thinks it's fun. More consistent implementation of existing laws is also needed in the area of asylum. But this initiative won't build a single apartment. It doesn't speed up the approval process. It does not care for people on the ward. It does not repair a road. It does not put an additional train on the track. It just puts a lid on it and makes everything worse. It's like treating an illness by hiding the thermometer. The symptoms don't go away, they get worse.

In addition, Switzerland is ageing. You don't just see this in the statistics. You notice it in everyday life. In the workplace, when experienced people retire and no one replaces them. In hospitals, when beds are empty not because of a lack of rooms, but because of a lack of staff. In a restaurant that is suddenly closed two days a week. At the technician who doesn't have time for another three months to fix a broken washing machine. Even today, more people are retiring than young people are entering the labor market. This gap is not disappearing because it is being covered politically. It is only getting bigger.

And now, of all times, the Chaos Initiative wants to massively restrict the immigration of workers. In other words, those people who often work directly, pay taxes, make contributions and help support our AHV. This is not a sustainable solution to the problem. Instead, it creates further problems that will be even more difficult to deal with later on.

Switzerland needs solutions. More apartments. Better infrastructure. Faster procedures. A consistent asylum policy. More opportunities for people who are already here and want to work. More productivity. Less bureaucracy. All not glamorous. But effective.

What it certainly doesn't need: a rigid lid that sounds good but ends badly.

Now we need clear voices against this dangerous initiative. Make your statement against it here:

https://camp.nein-chaos.ch/onboarding/statement