Bergidyll: Even more environmental protection, the Swiss apparently thought, is not necessary, right?
Photo: Arno Balzarini / dpa
No, no and again no: the Swiss clearly rejected three initiatives for more environmental protection in a referendum this Sunday.
With the first project, the so-called
drinking water
initiative, the subsidies should be withdrawn from farmers if they use artificially produced means to control pests, keep more animals on their farms than they can feed with their own feed production and use too many antibiotics.
The proposal had met with little approval from the Swiss government and a majority in the Federal Council: it went too far and would restrict agricultural production too much.
The majority of Swiss citizens saw it that way if the projections by the survey institute gfs.bern were to be confirmed: Accordingly, the initiative was rejected by 61 percent of citizens.
Just like the second initiative, which aimed at a
total ban on synthetic pesticides
and a conversion of all Swiss agriculture to organic production.
That too remained without a chance.
Rejected CO2 targets: Comparatively modest
A third no is also evident in the proposed
CO2 law
.
The proposal provides that annual CO2 emissions in Switzerland should be reduced to half of 1990 levels by 2030.
That is less than what has long been the political consensus in Germany: In this country, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990.
So far it looks as if even more modest goals in Switzerland would not be enforceable if you let the citizens decide for themselves: According to initial projections, the rejection was 51 percent. Because not all votes had been counted, the error rate in the afternoon was still so high that a yes was still possible. As in Germany, the law would make petrol and diesel more expensive. Air travelers would have to pay up to 120 francs (around 110 euros) climate tax on their tickets, depending on the route.
Two further bills were accepted: The "
Federal Law on Police Measures to Combat Terrorism
(PMT)", which would give the police more powers, was estimated to have about 57 percent approval.
Around 61 percent of the citizens also voted for a bill to
regulate
the
compensation of companies and cultural workers in the corona pandemic
.
According to official estimates, such pandemic-related financial aid is likely to amount to CHF 35 billion.
Opponents of the law had criticized media subsidies, among other things.
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