The Swiss SVP mobilized its troops on Saturday during its assembly which was held in Geneva under high police surveillance. The delegates, unsurprisingly, unanimously rejected the climate protection law in vote on June 18.
Two weeks before the Geneva cantonal elections, the party had chosen Meyrin (GE), on the outskirts, to host its big meeting. The police presence was particularly visible around the room due to a call to demonstrate against the party’s presence at the end of the lake.
But no incident has finally disturbed this meeting settled like clockwork. After the traditional bell ringers and the national anthem, party president Marco Chiesa castigated the climate protection law, whose title is already “the height of nerve”.
“False and expensive”
This law will lead to the de facto ban on fuel oil, gasoline, diesel and gas, said the Ticino man. Driving and heating will only be possible with electricity, which will greatly increase demand, he added. Consequently, it is necessary, according to him, to call this law by its real name: “the law on the waste of electricity”.
“We must put an end to this madness of the pink-green left and sink this false and costly law,” concluded Mr. Chiesa. As a reminder, the SVP had launched the referendum against the new climate protection law which serves as an indirect counter-project to the glacier initiative.
Federal Councilor Albert Rösti, who was speaking as energy minister and not as a member of the SVP, qualified the party’s assertions. He defended this law which does not “provide for prohibitions, nor new taxes and duties”. The Bernese insisted on the importance of building new facilities to produce electricity. But the chips were already down: the delegates unanimously rejected the law.
Asylum and immigration
Seven months before the federal elections, the president of the UDC has used the party’s favorite themes to try to galvanize the troops: asylum and “mass immigration”. “Our asylum system is a complete failure,” said the Ticino, in front of a room that was struggling to ignite.
He affirmed that the majority of people who arrive by way of asylum in Switzerland are not real refugees and that they do not have valid grounds for asylum. Most of these migrants are young men and many of them are criminals, according to the party president.
The SVP’s solutions: deport and carry out asylum procedures in third countries or in border transit zones. In addition to the “chaos of asylum”, the president of the UDC criticized the disproportionate immigration from which Switzerland suffers.
Taxation
Finally, the delegates also voted their watchword for the project of minimum taxation of large companies in the wake of the project of the OECD and the G20 which provides for a rate of 15% in Switzerland. This reform, which targets companies whose turnover exceeds 750 million euros, was approved by 112 votes to 2 and 6 abstentions.
If Switzerland does not participate, large companies risk leaving the country, warned national councilor Magdalena Martullo-Blocher. She specified that three quarters of the additional tax revenue will be donated to the cantons concerned and a quarter to the Confederation.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats