Risk and insurance dominate Swiss political agenda in 2024

The Swiss electorate will vote on four issues at a federal level on 9 June, with two initiatives on health insurance premiums, a controversial post Covid-19 vaccination initiative and a referendum against an energy law that is designed to tackle energy security but at the expense of the environment.

National news agency Swissinfo said that the comprehensive energy reform adopted by parliament last September is designed to implement the government’s Energy Strategy 2050.

The aim is to increase electricity production in the long term. Production targets have been set for 2035 and 2050.

Swissinfo said that under the plan, it will be easier to build large-scale hydro, solar and wind power plants. As they are now in the national interest, their construction will take precedence over nature or landscape protection. If the targets are not met, smaller facilities will be given the same privileges, the subsidiary of the state broadcasting service explained.

But, as elsewhere in Europe, the desire to secure national energy independence is in direct opposition to the wider goal of protecting the natural environment.

The Franz Weber Foundation, the group that was created to protect animals and nature, supported by other organisations, has collected enough signatures to force a referendum against the law.

It says that the initiative is dangerous for nature and landscape protection in Switzerland. It believes that it makes absolutely no sense, in the name of the climate, to clear forests, cover Alpine landscapes with solar panels and flood biotopes for hydroelectric power, reported Swissinfo.

It should come as no surprise that health insurance also dominates the political agenda in Switzerland currently.

The electorate will this year vote twice on health insurance premiums, which have been rising sharply in recent times, with a further rise in premiums set to be announced in September.

The left-wing Social Democratic Party has called for no policyholder to have to pay more than 10% of their income on health insurance premiums. Premium reductions via cantonal subsidies should be financed to the tune of at least two-thirds by the government and the remainder by the cantons, it said.

The government responded with an indirect counterproposal that suggests most cantons should increase their contribution to reducing health insurance premiums for low-income policyholders, to a minimum amount of between 3.5% and 7.5% of the cantonal costs of compulsory health insurance.

The Centre Party’s initiative for lower premiums provides for a brake on healthcare costs, which should rise in line with the economy and salaries, reported Swissinfo. This brake would operate in the same way as the government’s spending brake. When healthcare costs rise by 20% more than wages per year, the government must take measures to bring costs down, it explained.

“However, the government and parliament feel that the initiative does not take into account factors such as demographics, medical and technological progress and the dependence of salaries on economic trends. An indirect counterproposal with more targeted measures is ready. At its heart is the introduction of cost-containment targets for services, reviewed every four years,” explained the news service.

The fourth initiative, launched in the context of Covid-19 by the Swiss Freedom Movement, aims to exclude any obligation to vaccinate, it reported.

“No penalty or social or professional prejudice should result from a refusal. More generally, the initiators want to ensure that a person’s physical or psychological integrity can be violated only with their consent,” stated Swissinfo.

In parliament, only the right-wing Swiss People’s Party supported the text and argued for a counterproposal.

The government and all the other parties took the view that acceptance of the initiative would lead to legal uncertainty in various areas of society, particularly in terms of criminal prosecution and the protection of children and adults. “What’s more, no one in Switzerland can be forced to undergo vaccinations against their will,” concluded the news agency.