The social committee wants to facilitate naturalization

On Tuesday, the Federal Chancellery published the preliminary investigation of the federal citizens’ initiative “For modern civil rights (democracy initiative)” in the Staatsblad. The initiative committee now has until November 23, 2024 to collect the 100,000 signatures needed to bring it about.

In concrete terms, the initiative calls for naturalization to be possible after five years of legal residence in Switzerland, regardless of the residence permit. Nowadays, only people who have a residence permit C and who have lived in Switzerland for at least ten years can be naturalised.

About a quarter of people in Switzerland currently hold a foreign passport. Switzerland has the second strictest naturalization rules in Europe after Cyprus, according to a study.

Today’s civil rights are unworthy of a real democracy, Arber Bullakaj, chairman of Aktion Vierviertel, told the media in Bern. The problem has gotten worse in recent decades. It is therefore clear to him: “Simplified and freer access to Swiss citizenship is needed.”

Elias Studer, who documents naturalization stories with his organization, noted that almost every day people are grossly denied Swiss citizenship. He spoke of an “undemocratic exclusion” of a significant part of the population.

Studer gave examples – “absurd stories” from his point of view – in which people were not naturalized, for example, because they did not know in which year the nuclear research institute CERN was founded, or because they “styled their motorcycles”. Others waited 23 years for naturalization. In many places, the authorities are arbitrary.

Aktion Vierviertel’s social project is supported by several well-known politicians – including State Councilor Lisa Mazzone (Greens/GE), former councilor Paul Rechsteiner (SP/SG) and the co-chairman of the political movement Operation Libero, Stefan Manser-Egli.

They admitted that the initiative would struggle on the political scene. However, a solution is needed for this “major challenge in terms of democratic policies,” Rechsteiner said. Civil rights should also be fought for in the past.

Population surveys showed that the increased participation of foreigners in the political process could certainly produce a majority, Mazzone said.

Civil Rights Act reforms have been a recurring topic in recent years. In 2017, the Swiss decided at the polls that well-integrated third-generation foreigners should be able to naturalize more easily. These changes took effect in 2018. Subsequently, however, it turned out that the number of naturalizations did not increase as much as expected.

In the recent past, parliament has rejected relaxation of naturalization requirements – including two parliamentary initiatives that would have given foreigners more participation rights after five years in Switzerland. (oo/sda)