View over Zurich: Will it soon be more difficult for foreigners to move to Switzerland?Image: keystone
Some people in Germany are looking enviously to the south; the French and Italians don’t need a vote to shrink. The vote on the SVP initiative concerns neighboring countries – but not everyone.
June 10, 2026, 05:38June 10, 2026, 05:38
Hansjörg Friedrich Müller, Stefan Brändle, Maria Steinmayr, Dominik Straub
Germany: Some would also like to vote
Around 330,000 Germans live in Switzerland, which is 3.6 percent of the total population. Last but not least, the “Spiegel” probably had them in mind as a target group when it provided its Swiss partial edition with a provocative cover photo: “Germans out” is written on a ballot paper that is thrown into an urn with a Swiss cross.
The magazine appeared with a different cover in Germany, but rarely has a Swiss vote in the Federal Republic attracted more interest than the one on the 10 million initiative.
The “Spiegel” cover for the vote on the Swiss 10 million initiative.Image: screenshot mirror
Of course, the country’s media is largely critical of the plan: the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” predicts that a yes vote would plunge Switzerland into a crisis, and the “Frankfurter Allgemeine” warns of a “serious blow” to the Swiss economy.
But there is also understanding or even sympathy for the initiative, although more among the readers than among the journalists. In a “Welt” readers’ forum, some people express their envy: We would like to vote on migration, too, is the tenor there. The fact that Switzerland attracts well-educated immigrants from Western Europe, while Germany supports numerous asylum migrants from the Near and Middle East, is sometimes lost in the debate.
The German healthcare system would certainly benefit if fewer doctors and nurses emigrated to Switzerland. It is still unlikely that German politicians are secretly hoping for a yes vote if they hold back from making statements about the initiative.
They are more likely to fear that foreign interference could trigger a defiance reaction among Swiss voters. For the European project, which is being more or less passionately invoked by almost all politicians in Berlin (apart from the representatives of the AfD), a yes to the 10 million initiative would be a fatal signal – with an impact on the German migration debate.
France would be happy to have more residents
The largest French business newspaper “Les Echos” reports this week on the “amazing Swiss idea” of capping the population at ten million. The Paris paper suspects the initiators of “wanting to restrict immigration under the guise of demographic necessity.” Other French media voices in Paris are wondering how Switzerland manages to cut off the most important driver of economic performance – population growth.
Voting posters in Geneva: French-speaking Switzerland attracts many people from France.Image: keystone
The French lack of understanding stems from a completely different starting point: France is almost 14 times larger than Switzerland – but its population of 68 million is only seven times larger. This means that France still has plenty of space for new residents. Migration to the cities and even “désertification” (literally: desertification) are ongoing issues for Western Europe’s largest country in terms of area. Individual villages in rural zones have lost all their inhabitants.
Added to this is the falling birth rate. Thanks to massive child benefits and immigration, France had one of the highest birth rates in Europe for decades. But now the trend is reversing: in 2025, our western neighbor recorded fewer births than deaths for the first time since the world wars. Aging is therefore constantly increasing.
According to the national statistics office Insee, the current population of 68 million is likely to increase for another year or two, but without reaching the threshold of 70 million; After that, the Insee predicts a downward trend. Bottom line: France is expected to lose 3.2 million inhabitants in the next few decades. By 2070 the number is expected to have fallen to 65.9 million. France will soon have reached, and even exceeded, the peak of its population. Then the number decreases continuously. Without any referendum.
Italy is surprisingly disinterested
If Italy doesn’t have one problem, it’s this: a rapidly growing population with the associated density stress. The number of residents in the Belpaese, which is not very procreative, has been falling for years, despite considerable legal and illegal immigration from non-EU countries (more than 200,000 people per year). Whether the slow extinction of the Italians is the reason for the almost total lack of interest in the 10 million people’s vote in Switzerland remains to be seen. One thing is certain: In Italy, hardly anyone is taking notice of the controversial proposal in its northern neighboring country.
Not a half-famous national politician – not a single one! – has so far commented on the upcoming vote, and media reporting is also kept to a minimum. After all, the country’s most important newspaper, the Milanese “Corriere della Sera”, published a short and uninspired voting preview. TGCom24, the news portal of the Berlusconi broadcaster Mediaset, also made a short report and even quoted Federal Councilor Beat Jans, albeit only with a single sentence. All other major media outlets in the country, including state broadcaster RAI and national news agency Ansa, have so far ignored the Swiss vote.
This is quite astonishing, because if the initiative were to be accepted, Italy would be massively affected: Italians are still the largest foreign population group in Switzerland, with 347,000 people (as of the end of 2024). Between 2014 and 2024 alone, no fewer than 160,000 Italian citizens immigrated to Switzerland (the balance between immigrants and returnees was 47,000 people). The approximately 92,000 Italian cross-border commuters without residence in Switzerland would also be affected in a kind of collateral damage if the EU were to terminate the agreement on the free movement of people because of the “cap” of 10 million.
Austria only notices it at the border
In Austria you first have to explain the Swiss 10 million initiative. When asked what one thinks about it, the answer is often: “10 million – money or people?” Comments from forums like “Standards” are: “I think that’s okay – there are enough Swiss people.” They also show how little the neighboring country is concerned with local politics. The Swiss vote is hardly a topic of conversation. And yet a yes could have consequences.
Vorarlberg would probably be most directly affected. For many in the westernmost federal state, Switzerland is a place of work, a sales market and a promise of wages at the same time. What is being discussed in Bern as controlling immigration could have a very direct impact there.
The initiative could lead to the termination of the freedom of movement of people – and thus cause Bilateral I to falter. Permits would become more complicated for commuters, and controls, bureaucracy and uncertainty would increase for companies. (schweiztoday.ch)