The committee recommends rejecting the initiative, proposed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party.

The State Policy Committee of the Senate has clearly spoken out against various counter-proposals that have been examined. This was reported by the parliamentary services on Tuesday. The committee voted against the People's Party initiative by eight votes to three with two abstentions. The Senate is expected to decide on this in December.

+ Swiss lawmakers reject population control initiative

The People's Party is calling for“sustainable population development”. According to this, Switzerland's population should not exceed ten million in 2050. If there are already 9.5 million people living in the country before then, the government and parliament must take action. As a final step, the free movement of people with the EU would have to be cancelled.

The majority of the committee does not want to jeopardise the bilateral approach, as stated in a press release. Added to this is the shortage of skilled labour and the fact that the working population in Switzerland is shrinking.

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