Swiss right-wing party calls for a referendum to block the climate protection law
ZURICH, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) in Switzerland is set to call a referendum within days aimed at blocking a bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, party officials have said.
The SVP, a member of the governing coalition in Bern, is fighting against the law to make Switzerland climate-neutral by 2050, but has so far received no support from other parties.
The proposed legislation would accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions and the uptake of renewable energy, particularly solar power, backed by 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion) in funding.
The SVP argues that further cuts are counterproductive during the current energy crisis, which was unleashed across Europe after Moscow halted most gas supplies in response to Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Switzerland referendums need the support of 50,000 signatures to be activated.
SVP energy spokeswoman Monika Rüegger said in a webcast interview on Sunday that “far more” had registered and that the party would probably announce the referendum on Monday.
A party spokesman declined to confirm how many signatures had been collected and said the plan was to call the referendum as scheduled on January 19, the deadline for acceptances.
The SVP, which is also in favor of stricter immigration restrictions, is the largest group in Switzerland’s 200-member federal parliament, but no other party has backed its referendum.
However, the new draft of the anti-CO2 law also encounters hurdles.
It, too, requires approval in a referendum to become law and is a watered-down version of a bill that failed to pass in 2021.
($1 = 0.9245 Swiss Francs)
Reporting by John Stonestreet; Adaptation by John Revill and Susan Fenton
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