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As a refresher of our study of Swiss history, read this article and stop at Old Swiss Confederacy. Be prepared to discuss.

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short swiss history switzerland helvetians romans confederacy 1291 democracy helvetic republic

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A Short Paragraph of the History of Switzerland

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A short History of Switzerland: Helvetians - Age of Romans - Middle Ages - Reformation - Swiss Revolution - Democratic Constitution - World War II

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Switzerland: Cantons - Map Quiz Game - Seterra

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Switzerland contains 26 cantons, which are something like states. Each canton has its own government, legislation, constitution, and courts, much as the states do in the United States. Because of its mountainous terrain, the borders can a little odd, but you can use these distinctions to your advantage as you are trying to study for a geography quiz. This map quiz game will help you learn the cantons with more precision than a Swiss watch.

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Underwater archaeology in the 19th century: the search for the remains of prehistoric lakeside settlements in Lake Geneva. © Bern Historical Museum

The climate and topography attracted the earliest settlers to what is now present-day Switzerland. The oldest flint tool discovered in Switzerland (an isolated find) is thought to be around 400,000 years old, while more explicit evidence of human activity dates back about 120,000 years. The oldest known agricultural and pastoral settlements in Switzerland date from between 5500 and 5000 BC and bear witness to the transition of these people from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle. Some of the most interesting archaeological finds are those of the lakeside settlements dating back to the end of the 5th millennium BC, which have been discovered in the region between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance. (PDF, 234.5 kB, English)

From the early 3 rd century BC, the territory of present-day Switzerland was gradually absorbed into the Roman Empire. However, Switzerland was not a single political unit but was divided between five different Roman provinces. The Romans tightened their grip on the territory by establishing colonies. The indigenous population, which included the Celtic Helvetians and the Raetians, became increasingly Romanised. The fall of the Western Roman Empire led to the collapse of the Roman administration in the 5 th and 6 th century AD.
From beginning to the Romans (PDF, 234.5 kB, English)
Before submitting your question, you might find the answer your're looking for under Frequently Asked Questions.

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The climate and topography attracted the earliest settlers to what is now present-day Switzerland. The oldest flint tool discovered in Switzerland (an isolated find) is thought to be around 400,000 years old, while more explicit evidence of human activity dates back about 120,000 years.

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A lake-dwellers' village reconstructed at Wauwil in canton Lucerne
(Keystone)

The prehistoric lake dwellings of the alpine region, including Switzerland, provide a unique glimpse of life in the earliest agricultural settlements from 5,000 to 500 BC.

Stretching across six European countries, they were added to the Unesco World Heritage List in June 2011. There are 111 sites in all, with 56 of them in Switzerland.

The dwellings in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia, lie deep in lakes or buried in sand on lake shores. Yet for Unesco, they qualify as part of the cultural heritage of humanity: the pile-dwelling sites (as they are called) constitute some of the most important archaeological evidence of the ascent of man between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

The water and the sand of the lakes have created exceptional conditions in which this immense record of prehistory has been preserved.

The organic material used by our distant ancestors - wood, leather, bone, cloth and even left-over food - is preserved much better than anywhere else in this aquatic environment, protected as it is from exposure to air, inclement weather and the forces of human destructiveness.

First discovered a century and a half ago, the pile-dwelling sites of the alpine region have provided specialists with a unique opportunity to reconstruct what life was like in early societies of farmers and herdsmen during the millennia before Christ. These sites point to the missing link in the chain between the hunter-gatherers of pre-history and the first European civilisations.

Skilful peoples

The first traces of an ancient lake-dwellers' village were found in Lake Zurich in 1854, a year in which the waters of the lake dropped to an exceptionally low level. Excavations revealed hundreds of wooden piles, driven into the earth, along with all sorts of unusual objects, extremely well preserved.

The discovery received attention all over Europe. In the decades that followed, remains of similar settlements were found on the shores of lakes in other European countries, notably in the alpine region.

Prior to the discovery, archaeological investigation of pre-history had found evidence of human mortality more than anything else - tombs, weapons and military strongholds - and so the lake-dweller villages provided the first testimony to the everyday life of European peoples between 5,000 and 500 BC.

In the earliest times, communities were generally small, made up of fewer than 50 people, divided up into five or ten households. Later, during the Bronze Age, villages might number up to 50 households comprising several hundred people.

The inhabitants lived by agriculture - almost exclusively cereals - and raising cattle, sheep and pigs, but also by hunting and fishing, and gathering herbs and fruits in the surrounding woodlands.

Utensils of wood and stone, shoes and clothing made of treated bark, pottery, jewellery, wheels, dug-out canoes and the first products of metalwork bear witness to the skills of the lake-dwellers.

They document the technological, economic and social development of an era which still remains shrouded in mystery. Even today we know hardly anything of the culture, customs and language of these far-off ancestors.

National myth

Therediscovery of the first traces of pile-dwellings in Switzerland gave rise to a picturesque image of people living on the waters of lakes in houses built on wooden platforms supported by piles and linked to one another by footbridges. Exhibitions, paintings, calendars, school books and novels fed the myth of the lake-dwellers for decades afterward.

The lakeshore settlements, found in different regions of Switzerland, also fed the idea that the various Swiss cultures shared a common origin, thus helping to bolster a sense of national identity in the country which had only acquired a centralised government in 1848. It was not by accident that the Swiss government chose a painting of a lake village to represent Switzerland at the Paris World Exhibition of 1867.

As time went on, however, archaeological research showed that lakeshore villages were built throughout the alpine region thousands of years ago and that they were inhabited by some 30 different peoples. The houses were not in fact built on platforms out on the water.

"In those days the lakes were smaller: the villages were built on dry land or in marshy areas. The piles really served to protect the inhabitants from flooding, since the water level varied much more than it does today," Christian Harb, head of the heritage project on pile-dwellings, told swissinfo.ch.

International character

The pile dwellings nevertheless have remained in the national consciousness.

Speaking at the official ceremony to inscribe the sites onto the World Heritage list in September 2011, Interior Minister Didier Burkhalter, who himself grew up on the banks of Lake Neuchâtel, described how he used to go out on his grandfather's fishing boat and had to be careful not to damage the nets on the submerged poles. The lake dwellings were an integral part of his childhood.

Recent research has, however, uncovered that pile dwellers were much more international than thought, with many ties between the various populations.

"There was a lot of mobility, a kind of free movement well before our time," Burkhalter said.

Transnational cooperation was also a feature of theproject to make the sites a World Heritage Site. It was promoted and led by Switzerland, but had the support of the five other countries.

Harb said that this was a factor in the project's success as Unesco seeks to encourage cultural cooperation between member countries.

"In addition, there are very few prehistoric sites on the world list so far, and that, unlike other projects, the pile-dwellings have no potential for tourism - since they are all under water," he added.

The authors of the proposal hope, however, that their success will serve as a renewed stimulus for archaeological research and make the museums and exhibition sites which feature the lake villages known to a wider public.

Last but not least, they hope it will result in preservation initiatives - the lake waters have kept their precious secrets well, but will not do so for ever.

Pile-dwelling sites

The 111 sites in the Alpine region were added to the Unesco World Heritage list in June 2011. The pile dwellings were all built from around 5000 to 500 B.C. on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands.

There are sites in Switzerland (56), France (11), Italy (19), Germany (18), Austria (5) and Slovenia (2).

The Swiss Federal Culture Office and the Swiss Coordination Group Unesco Palafittes coordinated the candidacy for the Unesco World Heritage list.

An international coordination group looks after the management of the Unesco sites. Protection of the sites is carried out in accordance with countries' different systems. Collaboration is aimed at promoting conservation of the sites, scientific exchange and to inform the public.

Some sites can be visited as they have been reconstructed. In Switzerland this includes at Latenium, the archaeological museum in Neuchâtel, at Gletterens in canton Fribourg and at Wauwil in canton Lucerne.

There is also a Palafittes Guide application for iPhone and Android offering information - also in English - on the sites and museums.

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Le Corbusier

The Unesco committee has rejected for the second time in June 2011 a proposal to include Le Corbusier's architectural works on the list.

The proposal was submitted by France, together with Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Argentina and Japan. Three of the 19 sites selected were in Switzerland.

The rejection followed a recommendation against adding the works by the International Council on Monuments and Sites.

The building techniques were an issue and the 19 sites chosen did not adequately reflect Le Corbusier's work, the Federal Culture Office said.

Born in 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, Le Corbusier is regarded as one of the mostinnovative architects of the past century. His works are still an object of study and a source of inspiration for contemporary architecture.

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The prehistoric lake dwellings of the alpine region, including Switzerland, provide a unique glimpse of life in the earliest agricultural settlements from 5,000 to 500 BC. Stretching across six European countries, they were added to the Unesco World Heritage List in June 2011. There are 111 sites in all, with 56 of them in Switzerland.

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Test your Swiss knowledge with these top 35 Swiss facts - did you know Velcro and LSD originated in Switzerland or that the world's most expensive coffee is in Switzerland?

How well do you know Switzerland? Here is a mix of informative and interesting facts to prepare you for visiting or living in Switzerland. Test yourself on how many of these top 35 Swiss facts you know.

1. Switzerland is one of the only two countries to have a square flag - the Vatican has the only other square flag in the world. The Swiss flag is a red square with a white cross in the centre.

2. Switzerland is prepared for a nuclear war, if there ever was one - there are enough nuclear fallout shelters to accommodate its entire human population, due to laws that require everybody to have access to a shelter in their building or nearby. The Swiss military keeps fully stocked artillery bunkers, disguised as quaint country homes, in the middle of populated villages.

3. Switzerland's main access points are wired to blow in case of an attack - one of the country's defense strategies is to demolish every main road, bridge and railway access into Switzerland in case of a foreign invasion, with at least 3,000 locations around the country prepared to blow at a moment's notice.

4. Coffee in Zurich is the most expensive in the world - costing an average CHF3.65 (USD 3.65) in the Coffee Price Index 2016, with Copenhagen, Basel, Bern and Geneva rounding out the top five respectively. Switzerland was also the origin of instant coffee when the Nestlé Company, started by Swiss businessman Henri Nestlé in 1867, created Nescafe in 1938.

5. Switzerland boasts some of the world's most famous inventions - they created Velcro, cellophane, the Swiss Army Knife, absinthe, the potato peeler, Helvetica font, LSD, muesli, edible chocolate gold and milk chocolate to name a few. They were also pioneers in introducing bobsleigh, tobogganing and luge as a competitive sport to the world. Swiss scientists are also leading research in using LSD to treat mental illness and pain. Switzerland continues to lead the world in innovation, topping the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) ranking in 2017 for the seventh year in a row, ahead of the US (4th) and UK (5th).

6. Swiss men have the longest life expectancy in the world - in 2015 life expectancy at birth was 81.3 years for Swiss men and 85.3 years for Swiss women, according to World Health Organization (WHO). This puts Switzerland second (after Japan) for the average longest life expectancy. The population is also ageing; in 2015, almost one-fifth of the population was 65.

7. Swiss law prohibits owning 'soclal' pets unless you have two of them - this makes it illegal in Switzerland to keep just one guinea pig, mouse, ferret, fish, canary, pig or other social creature. With the world's most stringent animal welfare laws, Switzerland judges isolation for such animals as abuse. This has sparked services such as a lawyer who defends animals and a pet-renting service in case one of a pair dies and the owner wants to avoid a pet-buying cycle to abide by the pairing law.

8. Switzerland is one of the world's best places to be born, live and be happy - according to consistently high rankings in global reports. Switzerland was ranked the world's happiest country in 2015, and came second in 2016 (after Denmark) out of 156 countries, while Zurich was named the second best city to live in Mercer's Quality of Living Report 2016 (after Vienna), and tied with Bern and Helsinki as the second best city for personal safesty, far above London (72) or the US (where no city ranked in the top 50). According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) latest Where to be Born Index (2013), Switzerland was the best country to be born.

9. There are 208 mountains over 3,000m high - with 24 of them over 4,000m. The highest is Monte Rosa (Dufoursptiz) at 4,634m, situated on the Swiss/Italian border.

10. Switzerland is also known as Confoederatio Helvetica - which explains the abbreviation CH. It's officially named the Swiss Confederation for historical reasons, although modern Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the federal city. The founding of the Swiss Confederation traditionally dates to 1 August 1291 and is celebrated annually as Swiss National Day.

11. Switzerland has a considerable wealth gap between rich and poor - the top 20 percent of the population earn more than four times as much as the bottom 20 percent, according to the OCED.

12. Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates of industrialised countries despite liberal Swiss gun laws - in 2015 there were only 0.5 gun murders per 100,000 people in Switzerland (around 40 per year), compared to five gun murders per 100,000 people recorded in the US in 2014 (around 30-40 per day). Yet Small Arms Survey estimates Switzerland has around 45.7 guns per 100 residents, the world's third-highest after the US (88.8) and Yemen (54.8), although Swiss government figures put estimates at one gun per four residents, or around two million guns in a population of 8.3 million. In 2011, Swiss voters rejected stricter gun control including a proposal to ban the purchase of automatic weapons and introduce a firearm licencing system.

13. Albert Einstein developed his famous formula E=MC² in Switzerland - he developed his theory of relativity while studying and living in Bern, after renouncing his German citizenship to avoid military duty.

14. Swiss politics include an anti-powerpoint presentation party - the party's goal is to decrease the use of powerpoint and other presentation software, which it estimates costs Switzerland EUR 2.1 in economic damage.

15. Switzerland's Gotthard tunnel is the longest in the world - measuring 57km in length, located 2.3km under the Alps, it is 7km longer than the Channel tunnel between England and France. It took 17 years to complete and, with a total cost of some EUR 11, it's also the world's most expensive tunnel. It cuts 45 minutes off travelling between Zurich and Lugano and boosts the Rhine-Alp corridor that stretches from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, crosses Germany and connects the port of Genoa in Italy.

16. Almost half of marriages in Switzerland ends in divorce - the divorce rate had been gradually decreasing but rose to 41.4 percent in 2015; Neufchâtel (48.6 percent) and Geneva (47.7 percent) recorded the higest rates. People marry relatively late in Switzerland with men at 31.8 years and women at 29.6 years, and the average number of children per woman is around 1.5, just under the EU average of 1.6.

17. Switzerland is not governed by one head of state - instead it has a seven-member executive council that serves as the Swiss collective head of state. A president is elected for one-year in office and is regarded as the primus inter pares, or first among equals, during this time.

18. Foreigners account for nearly 25 percent of the population - one of the highest percentages in the world. However, in February 2014, Swiss voters narrowly passed through a controversial anti-immigration initiative. It aims to impose limits on the number of foreigners allowed into Switzerland and may signal an end to the country's free movement accord with the European Union , although it is currently in EU negotiations. Despite this, the 2017 Schilling reported that the number of foreigners on Swiss executive boards rose to 45 percent, highlighting Switzerland's ongoing need for executive workers regardless of nationality.

19. Switzerland has four national languages although English is increasingly popular - the four official languages are French, German, Italian and Rhaeto-Romantsch (with Latin roots), although proficiency in another national language is decreasing in favour of English. Around 60 percent of the population are proficient in English and Switzerland ranks 14th in the world in the EF English Proficiency Index for non-native English speakers.

20. Switzerland's Aarau railway station holds Europe's second largest clock face - measuring 9m in diameter, only the railway station clock in Cergy, France is larger (10m). St Peter's Church in Zürich also has the largest church clock face in Europe, measuring 8.7m in diameter.

21. Swiss are best mathematicians in Europe - Swiss teenagers ranked first in Europe for maths in the 2015 PISA survey (Programme for International Student Assessment) and eighth in the world. Swiss teachers also receive the highest annual salary, averaging USD 68,000 (EUR 61,430), out of 30 OECD countries, according to The Efficiency Index.

Background Swiss facts
Switzerland has 26 cantons, which are the federal states of the Swiss confederation. They vary greatly in size, population and character: the canton of Geneva comprises just one city; the canton of Uri is entirely mountains and valleys; the population of the Zurich canton is over one million while the people of Appenzell Inner-Rhodes would fit into a football stadium.

Switzerland's economy is based on highly skilled workers, in specialist areas such as microtechnology, hi-tech, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, as well as banking and insurance. Switzerland is widely recognised as an international research centre, with the private and public sector strongly promoting science and technology.

Switzerland has a population of 8.3 million; about 5 million of them live in the Swiss Plateau in between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. All the larger Swiss cities lie on the plateau, including the city of Zurich, which is Switzerland's largest with a population of 376,990. The canton (federal state) of Zurich is the most densely populated canton in Switzerland, with 1,242,000 inhabitants in total. Regarding family life, on average women in Switzerland have 1.54 children.

Most people in Switzerland are Christian, including 42 percent Roman Catholic and 35 percent Protestant, with 11 percent stating no religious affiliation at all.

Switzerland's climate is not considered as being excessively hot, cold nor humid, although it varies according to region. In the north, the climate is moderate, with cold winters and warm summers; temperatures drop in the mountainous east; the west has a mild climate; while in the south it's so warm that palm trees line the shore of Lake Lugano. As a guide, expect daytime temperatures from 18-28°C (65-85°F) during July and August, in January and February -2-7°C (28-45°F) and in spring and autumn/fall 8-15°C (46-59°F).

The Swiss are an educated population; in 2015, 88 percent of adults aged 25-64 had the equivalent of a high school diploma. The Swiss government forecasts the number of people aged 25-64 with post-secondary education will rise to almost 60 percent in 2040, although foreigners are expected to contribute some 30 percent of the increase.

Switzerland does not use the euro as its currency. Switzerland uses the Swiss franc (CHF). In June 2016, one Swiss franc was worth around EUR 0.92/USD 1.02/GBP 0.76.

Switzerland is also home to CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research), the world's largest particle physics laboratory based in Geneva and straddling the Swiss/French border. Physicists won the 2013 Nobel prize in physics for their work on the theory of the Higgs boson, one of the building blocks of the universe, which was finally discovered at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in 2012.

Switzerland was the birthplace of many famous inventors and pioneers, including World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee, architect Le Corbusier, Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant, DNA discoverer Friedrich Miescher, philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and psychologist Carl Jung.

Museums also play an integral part in Swiss culture, with Swiss museums attracting more than one million visitors per month, although more than half are received by only 49 institutions. In 2017 the Swiss statistic office released figures that there were 1,111 museums in Switzerland, the majority (367) being regional or local, followed by art (171), technical (140) and historical (126) museums.

Art museums were the most popular, attracting 3.3 million visitors. However, while the most popular museums receive more than 50,000 guests annually, almost 75 percent of Swiss museums attract fewer than 5,000 people, with every fourth village statistically having a museum. Most Swiss mueseums are located in German-speaking Switzerland, while Italian-speaking Ticino has the highest museum density. Many Swiss museums are publically financed, with almost half predominately relying on funding. Reportedly, 72 percent of the population visited a museum, gallery or an exhibition in 2014.

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Test your Swiss knowledge with these top 35 Swiss facts - did you know Velcro and LSD originated in Switzerland or that the world's most expensive coffee is in Switzerland? | Essential facts about Switzerland, including geography, history, economy, and culture.

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The Formation of Switzerland

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How parliamentary elections work in Switzerland

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Gaul (Latin Gallia, French Gaule) is the name given by the Romans to the territories where the Celtic Gauls (Latin Galli, French Gaulois) lived, including present France, Belgium, Luxemburg and parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany on the west bank of the Rhine, and the Po Valley, in present Italy. The ancient limits of Gaul were the Rhine River and the Alps on the east, the Mare Nostrum ( Mediterranean Sea), the Po Valley and the Pyrenees on the south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west and North. Before the Roman conquest by Julius Caesar (58-51 BC), the name "Gaul" corresponded to a cultural and military area founded on a common religion and federations of peoples who though that they had a common origin. This common origin probably dates back to 8th century, when migrants groups of the Bronze Age Urnfield culture spread slowly across the area of the future territory of Gaul. About 390 BC, the Gauls invaded and sacked Rome. In 222 BC, Cisalpine Gaul (the region between the Alps and the Po Valley) was conquered by the Romans. The best description we know about the pre- Roman Gaul is in the first chapter of the Commentarii de Bello Gallico, of Caius Julius Caesar. It is clearly a Roman point of view of the Gallic realities:

All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgae. Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest, because they are farthest from the civilisation and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind; and they are the nearest to the Germans, who dwell beyond the Rhine, with whom they are continually waging war; for which reason the Helvetii also surpass the rest of the Gauls in valour, as they contend with the Germans in almost daily battles, when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers. One part of these, which it has been said that the Gauls occupy, takes its beginning at the river Rhone: it is bounded by the river Garonne, the ocean, and the territories of the Belgae: it borders, too, on the side of the Sequani and the Helvetii, upon the river Rhine, and stretches towards the north. The Belgae rise from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look towards the north and the rising sun. Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun and the north star.

After Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul, the territorial organization of Gaul as part of the Roman Empire was concluded by Emperor Augustus from 27 to 12 BC: Respecting the ancient organization described by Julius Caesar, Augustus created three Roman Provinces: Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis and Aquitania. In the south, the old Roman Provincia, to which Massilia was added, was renamed Gallia Narbonensis. The territories bordering the Rhine River were combined into two military areas, which under Domitian became the provinces of Upper and Lower Germania. For about 200 years the Roman peace ( Pax romana) was maintained, with the exception of some local revolts and civil troubles. The Germanic incursions of the 3rd century AD marked the end of this epoch.

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Gaul (Latin Gallia, French Gaule) is the name given by the Romans to the territories where the Celtic Gauls (Latin Galli, French Gaulois) lived, including present France, Belgium, Luxemburg and parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany on the west bank of the Rhine, and the Po Valley, in present Italy.

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Federalism and direct democracy reflect the great importance that the Swiss political system places on the freedom of choice and self-determination. The capital city of Switzerland is Bern.

"Bundesplatz" (Federal Square) in Bern © The Swiss Parliament

Three political levels share power in Switzerland: the Confederation, the 26 cantons and over 2,250 communes.

The Swiss federal government, (the Federal Council), is made up of seven members, who are elected by parliament.

The Swiss parliament, or (Federal Assembly), has a total of 246 members, who are directly elected by the people. Switzerland has a bicameral parliament: the National Council (200 members) and the Council of States (46 members).

15 political parties are represented in the Swiss parliament. Those parties with the largest share of the popular vote are represented on the Federal Council.

Some 5.3 million citizens, roughly 63% of the total population, are eligible to vote at federal level. This right is granted to all Swiss nationals on reaching the age of majority (18 in Switzerland).

(JPG, 744.5 kB)

Contact

Before submitting your question, you might find the answer your're looking for under Frequently Asked Questions.

Discover Switzerland

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Swiss Political System - Facts and Figures

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Federalism and direct democracy reflect the great importance that the Swiss political system places on the freedom of choice and self-determination. The capital city of Switzerland is Bern. Three political levels share power in Switzerland: the Confederation, the 26 cantons and over 2,250 communes.

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A Grand Tour of Switzerland in 60 Seconds | National Geographic

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Europe: Countries - Map Quiz Game - Seterra

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Do you have an upcoming geography quiz on Europe but can't tell Austria apart from Hungary on a map? This Europe map quiz game has got you covered. From Iceland to Greece and everything in between, this geography study aid will get you up to speed in no time, while also being fun.If you want to practice offline, download our printable maps of Europe in pdf format.

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The face of Switzerland is changing. Get the key facts and figures on the Swiss population.

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Swiss Army Knife : Best Documentary 2017

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Everything You Need to Know About Switzerland

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The political equation based on a magic formula

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Together with neutrality and federalism, direct democracy is a part of the Swiss national identity and helps unite the various languages, religions and cultures in the country. This video gives you a short introduction to this unique political system. (Produced by swissinfo.ch on behalf of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad)

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Survey: Keyboard and Hand close-up

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Together with neutrality and federalism, direct democracy is a part of the Swiss national identity and helps unite the various languages, religions and cultures in the country. This video gives you a short introduction to this unique political system.

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Last week the Swiss People's Party (UDC/SVP) and Action for a neutral independent Switzerland ( ASIN) began collecting the 100,000 signatures required to launch a new vote to limit immigration into Switzerland from EU and EFTA nations.

The new initiative to limit immigration is less ambiguous than the one put to a vote on 9 February 2014. Instead of requiring the government to limit immigration, this one will ask voters whether or not they want to keep the agreement between the EU and Switzerland on free movement of people - full initiative text.

The EU has said repeatedly that the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the bloc are an all-or-nothing package. If a majority of Swiss voters vote to end the agreement on free movement of people the whole deal, including trade, might unravel.

If the vote is successful, Switzerland's Federal Council will have one year to negotiate an end to the agreement on Free Movement of People. If negotiations are unsuccessful the government would be forced to breach the agreement.

The new initiative was born from the view, held by many on the right, that the government's implementation of the successful 9 February 2014 vote to limit mass immigration was a fudge that wasn't faithful to the will of the people.

Those behind the initiative say the current EU agreement, which allows 500 million EU citizens to live in Switzerland, is untenable. They argue Switzerland needs to control migration rather than continue with the current system which automatically grants EU and EFTA citizens the right to move to Switzerland.

Speaking to Swiss broadcaster RTS, Roger Nordmann, president of the Socialist Party, said that a possible merit of this new text is that it is focused on ending the bilateral agreements, a sort of Swiss Brexit. He thinks this will bring clarity and doesn't think Switzerland's population will want to find itself in a situation like the UK is in currently.

In an email the organising committee says that there has been net immigration of nearly one million people into Switzerland since free movement of people came into force in 2002.

Numbers from Switzerland's Federal Statistical Office show net immigration of 967,000 from 2002 to 2016. This figure includes net emigration of 82,000 Swiss nationals and net immigration of 371,000 people from outside the EU and EFTA. The remaining 678,000 net arrivals were from EU and EFTA nations.

Organisers of the referendum have until 18 June 2019 to collect 100,000 valid signatures.

More on this:
Swiss Federal Statistical Office data (in French) - Take a 5 minute French test now
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The new immigration vote that could end free Swiss-EU migration

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Last week the Swiss People's Party (UDC/SVP) and Action for a neutral independent Switzerland ( ASIN) began collecting the 100,000 signatures required to launch a new vote to limit immigration into Switzerland from EU and EFTA nations. The new initiative to limit immigration is less ambiguous than the one put to a vote on 9 February 2014.