Advertisement ::

Enlarge Cartoon

First the cantons vote to ban smoking, now the anti-ban groups want to vote on new federal law

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland adopts a country-wide no smoking ban in May, but opponents are not taking the change in stride. A group defending the cafes and restaurants, the Légitime défense des cafés romands en péril Association, 3 February delivered a petition with 80,000 signatures, from French-speaking cantons, to the Chancellery in Bern, demanding a new vote. Theirs joins a similar petition from German-speaking cantons, delivered to Bern in December, with 64,000 signatures.

The petitions argue that smoking bans, already in place in some cantons, are putting cafes out of business. It is not yet clear if the two taken together will make up the 100,000 votes needed for a popular initiative to make it onto the ballots.

Another popular intiative is just getting off the ground, with the right-wing UDC launching a petition to have the governing Swiss Federal Council (cabinet) elected by  popular vote. The party says the behaviour of the Council in recent months shows that a popular vote is needed to put the right people in the job. The UDC has been behind similar votes in the past, in 1900 and 1942, according to the Tribune de Geneve, and both  have failed.

Links to other sites: ch.ch, Swiss smoking overview, 20 Minutes (Fre), Les Dissidents de Geneve (Fre), NZZ (Ger), Tribune de Geneve (Fre)