Federal Councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Justice and Police minister Thursday called on voters to reject the anti-minaret proposal which will be put to them in a referendum 29 November, saying that it is unconstitutional and runs counter to Swiss values. Eveline Widmer Schlumpf told a press conference that the proposal, from the right-wing UDC of which she was once a member, does not respect Switzerland’s freedom of religious expression. She argues that this means not only that people are free to hold religious beliefs, but also to express them openly and publicly in appropriate places of worship.

Widmer-Schlumpf and other UDC members from some cantons who are less populist than the UDC created a splinter party in December 2007 when she was elected to the Swiss Federal Council (cabinet), a vote the UDC fought bitterly.

Links to other sites: “Federal Council opposes building ban on minarets”, Federal web site, 27 august 2009

THe UDC is responsible for the anti-minaret posters that have been banned in several Swiss cities as racist.

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