分类： politics

As Switzerland prepares for a high-stakes public referendum this Sunday, an unusual coalition of top business leaders and major trade unions has mobilized in force to defeat a controversial proposal to cap national immigration and cap the country’s total population below 10 million by 2050. The initiative, spearheaded by the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) — Switzerland’s largest political party — has sparked widespread fears of severe damage to the country’s employment market, economic prosperity, and critical trade ties with the European Union. Dubbed “No to a Switzerland of 10 million!”, the proposal frames current immigration levels as “out of control”, claiming unchecked population growth is responsible for a raft of national issues, from overcrowded public transit and soaring rental costs to unregulated urban expansion. While the initiative faces broad, unified pushback from the Swiss federal government, national parliament, and the entire business community, recent public opinion polls indicate the final vote result could be extremely close, leaving both sides bracing for a tight outcome. Leading employer associations and trade unions have jointly labeled the plan the “chaos initiative”, warning it threatens to erode the foundations of Switzerland’s decades-long economic prosperity. Much of the country’s core economic sectors — from cutting-edge medical research and large-scale construction to public healthcare — rely heavily on foreign labor, the vast majority of which comes from neighboring European Union member states. Martin von Moos, head of the national hospitality industry group HotellerieSuisse, emphasized that more than half of all employees in Switzerland’s hotel and tourism sector are foreign workers. He warned the cap would dramatically worsen the chronic labor shortages already plaguing the industry. Beyond domestic labor market disruptions, critics warn the initiative puts at grave risk the sweeping bilateral agreements that bind Switzerland to the EU, its largest trading partner by far. Most critically, the proposal would violate the 1999 Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons, a cornerstone of Swiss-EU trade relations. In 2023 alone, more than half of all Swiss exports — totaling more than 147 billion Swiss francs, equal to roughly $185 billion — were shipped to EU markets. For export-focused Swiss firms, maintaining unimpeded access to the European single market and a flexible cross-border labor pool is non-negotiable. Pierre-Yves Bonvin, chief executive of Vionnaz-based textile machinery manufacturer Steiger, which exports 100 percent of its production to the EU, told reporters that his firm simply could not operate without foreign specialist workers. While the company has moved low-value manufacturing to China, it retains all high-value-added production at its Swiss facility, where more than a third of its 40 local employees are foreign nationals. “In Switzerland, we can find engineers to design and assemble our machines, but we lack the specialized expertise to test and calibrate them,” Bonvin explained. “There is no longer any vocational training for this skill set in Switzerland, so we have to recruit these specialists from France and Germany. Without that expertise, we could not continue producing these machines here.” The SVP has dismissed widespread criticism of the plan, noting that the proposal includes annual immigration quotas that would allow roughly 40,000 new foreign residents to enter the country each year. But industry leaders reject that defense, arguing the proposed quotas are far too small to meet Swiss labor demand and would prioritize social sectors over manufacturing, leaving business stranded. Simon Michel, CEO of leading medical technology firm Ypsomed — based near Bern and a producer of diabetes injection systems — and a right-wing Liberal legislator, warned that the quotas would prioritize hospital care and elder care, leaving industrial recruitment at the back of the line. Facing growing global demand for obesity and diabetes treatments, Ypsomed plans to hire 100 new precision mechanics over the next three years for its Solothurn factory. Even with a robust domestic apprenticeship program, Michel said the company cannot train enough qualified workers locally, and will need to recruit from France, Germany, and Poland to fill roles. Trade unions echo business concerns, adding that the cap could push struggling export firms to relocate production entirely abroad, leading to widespread domestic job losses. Switzerland’s largest union, Unia, also warned the initiative would weaken longstanding national labor protections, eliminate anti-discrimination rules that guarantee equal treatment for resident and foreign workers, and open the door to widespread wage dumping that would drag down pay for all Swiss workers. In a statement, the union cautioned that the SVP’s xenophobic campaign around the initiative would put downward salary pressure on every working person in the country, regardless of their origin.

A fresh political firestorm has erupted in Australian federal politics over constitutional eligibility rules, after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson launched a fierce defense of one of her party’s senators and reignited a long-running public conflict with independent legislator Fatima Payman. The clash comes as senior figures from the opposition Coalition are demanding the eligibility question be formally escalated to either the parliamentary privileges committee or Australia’s High Court for a binding ruling.

The controversy centers on One Nation West Australian Senator Tyron Whitten, after reporting from *The Australian* newspaper raised red flags over his ongoing financial holdings. The outlet claimed Whitten, who co-founded construction firm Whittens Group with his brother, still retains shares in the company – a business that holds a contract for the major Snowy Hydro 2.0 infrastructure project. In recent days, Whitten updated his mandatory parliamentary register of interests, removing both Whittens Group and a second associated entity, Whittens Bros Investments Pty Limited, from his public disclosures.

These revelations have triggered fresh scrutiny under Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, a statute that bars sitting parliamentarians from holding any direct or indirect financial interest in Commonwealth government projects or public assets. Rejecting the Coalition’s calls to refer the matter to the High Court acting as the Court of Disputed Returns, Hanson launched a blistering attack on opposition lawmakers, labeling them “gutless wonders” and “pure hypocrites” for their stance.

Hanson pushed back firmly against the eligibility claims, arguing: “The fact is, there is no question over Senator Whitten’s eligibility. Snowy Hydro is a public company, not a government department.” Instead of addressing the Coalition’s demands, Hanson pivoted to renew her earlier questioning of Payman – a former Labor senator who now sits as an independent – dragging the years-old debate over Payman’s citizenship status back into the national spotlight.

Payman, who was born in Afghanistan, took steps to renounce her Afghan citizenship ahead of the 2022 Australian federal election. However, her request was never finalized by the Afghan embassy after the Taliban seized control of the country, a regime that Australia does not formally recognize. Section 44 of the constitution bars dual citizens from serving in federal parliament, except in cases where a candidate can prove they took all reasonable steps to renounce their additional citizenship.

In a social media statement published over the dispute, Hanson argued: “The most questionable senator in parliament, Fatima Payman, holds Afghan citizenship. It’s a case that still needs investigation and an answer. I tried to have her qualification to sit in parliament under section 44 of the constitution referred for an inquiry. The hypocrites in the Coalition joined with Labor and the Greens to kill that inquiry and make sure she was never investigated. If the Coalition didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any. I wish the Coalition would put as much effort into working together and fixing the country as they put into trying to take One Nation down.”

Section 44-related disputes are not a new feature of Australian politics. Between 2017 and 2018, 15 sitting federal politicians were forced to resign from their seats after being found to breach the dual citizenship provision of the rule, in many cases for holding secondary citizenship they had no prior knowledge of. All affected lawmakers were required to contest their seats in subsequent by-elections to regain their positions.

A national reckoning over judicial failures in child protection and sexual abuse case management has gripped France this week, after Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin publicly refused to step down amid growing fury over his department’s role in the killing of 11-year-old Lyhanna.

The young girl’s body was discovered last week, nearly two weeks after she disappeared from her home near the southwestern town of Fleurance on May 29. The primary suspect is a 41-year-old man who is the father of one of Lyhanna’s school friends, a detail that has amplified public shock: court records show the man had already been formally accused of child rape on two separate occasions prior to Lyhanna’s disappearance.

One of those prior sexual assault complaints was filed in August of last year, but the investigation was never advanced, and law enforcement never questioned the suspect before Lyhanna went missing nine months later. After acknowledging what he called a “huge failure” in the handling of the prior accusations in an apology Friday, Darmanin faced immediate cross-party and public calls to resign over the systemic breakdown that allowed the suspect to remain free.

Appearing before reporters at a Monday press conference, Darmanin pushed back against those demands, saying the question of his resignation would only be justified if he refused to take accountability for the failures exposed by the case. “I will tell the whole truth without hiding anything from the French people,” he told attendees, framing the crisis not as an isolated misstep but a potential systemic breakdown that requires urgent review. As an immediate first step, Darmanin announced he has ordered all public prosecutors across France to launch a full re-examination of roughly 70,000 pending child crime complaints that are currently stuck in the nation’s backlogged judicial system.

But judicial leaders say the current crisis stems from deep underfunding and understaffing, not just individual mismanagement. Ludovic Friat, head of one of France’s major magistrates’ unions, warned Darmanin in a formal letter this week that judicial workers simply cannot keep pace with ministry demands when France has four times fewer prosecutors per capita than the European average.

Independent data bears out the scope of the systemic failure: according to CIIVISE, France’s independent national commission on sexual violence, only 7 percent of all reported complaints for child sexual assault in the country ultimately result in a criminal conviction.

Lyhanna’s killing has already reverberated far beyond the case itself, sparking widespread national calls for sweeping reform to how France investigates and prosecutes sexual abuse against both children and women. Yael Braun-Pivet, speaker of France’s National Assembly, has called on the government to immediately speed up legislative review of a pending bill targeting all forms of sexist and sexual violence. Drafted based on 140 recommendations from leading women’s rights organizations, the legislation includes key provisions to expand specialized training for police officers and judges who handle sexual abuse cases, a move advocates say will address longstanding gaps in how these sensitive investigations are conducted.

Australia’s federal political landscape has been thrown into fresh flux after senior Liberal Party figure Angus Taylor confirmed the centre-right opposition is open to striking a electoral alliance with Pauline Hanson’s right-wing populist One Nation party, a development that follows growing momentum for Hanson’s movement and public backing for a partnership from a senior Liberal heavyweight. The comments come on the heels of Western Australia’s state Liberal leader Basil Zempilas recently stating he was also willing to collaborate with One Nation, setting the stage for a debate over the future of preference arrangements ahead of any upcoming national and state elections.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Taylor pushed back against questions over whether pursuing a partnership with One Nation is appropriate, framing the party’s top priority as restoring public confidence after years of electoral setbacks. “What is appropriate is to be winning back the trust of the Australian people,” Taylor argued. He added that while he ultimately hopes to secure a majority of first-preference votes from Australian voters, the party recognizes it must repair broken trust with working-class Australians who feel disillusioned and let down by the current federal Labor administration.

Taylor stressed that the Western Australian Liberal branch retains full autonomy to make its own decisions about local electoral arrangements, but drew a clear line on the federal opposition’s broader approach: “we will work, as I said earlier, with whoever we can to get rid of this rotten Labor government.” The senior Liberal went on to echo widespread frustration among opposition ranks, acknowledging that the Coalition has suffered a nosedive in public approval, and that the anger among voters is justified. “They are angry, and I completely understand why,” he said. “They are swinging the bat now. We have to do better as a party, and I’ve said this many times to rebuild trust with Australians, and we have to lay out our plans every day.”

Taylor accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of failing to deliver on his promises, leaving many Australian voters feeling betrayed. “I want Australians to get that Australian journey back, and it’s disappearing under this government,” he said. “This Prime Minister has no idea. He has no idea. And, so I can understand why they’re angry.”

Taylor’s comments are the second high-profile endorsement of a potential arrangement with One Nation in as many days. On Monday, new Liberal Party federal president and former prime minister Tony Abbott publicly threw his support behind a preference swap deal between the two parties, a long-debated strategy that has divided the centre-right in Australia for decades.

The push for closer ties with One Nation comes at a time when Hanson’s party is seeing historic gains at the polls. The most recent Newspoll data shows One Nation has overtaken Labor on primary vote share for the first time in the party’s history, a seismic shift in Australian voting intentions. The party has also built momentum off recent electoral breakthroughs in South Australia and in the former New South Wales Liberal seat of Farrer once held by ex-opposition frontbencher Sussan Ley. Even with these gains, One Nation has faced growing scrutiny in recent days over its housing policy, marked by public confusion and sudden policy backflips from the party’s sitting members of parliament.

For the Liberal Party, Taylor has positioned the party around a platform of lower national taxes and addressing the country’s ongoing housing affordability crisis through strict cuts to net immigration levels.

Weeks of mass anti-government demonstrations and widespread road blockades have pushed Bolivia to the brink of a total national standstill, leaving embattled conservative President Rodrigo Paz with dwindling patience and on the cusp of deploying military forces to crush the unrest. The ongoing disruption has sent food and fuel prices soaring, created acute shortages of essential goods across the country, and sparked violent clashes that have left multiple people injured on both sides. Riot police attempts to clear barricades with tear gas have been repelled by gunfire that wounded several officers, while Bolivia’s ombudsman’s office confirms at least 14 civilians have also been hurt in the unrest, during which protesters have thrown stones and burned tires to maintain their blockades. Demonstrators have two core demands: they want Paz’s newly formed administration to address the nation’s deep, ongoing economic crisis, and many are calling for the pro-business US-backed president to resign from office entirely. Speaking at a signing ceremony on Monday for a new emergency powers law, President Luis significantly ramped up his rhetoric against the movement, blaming so-called “narcoterrorists” for fomenting the chaos and warning that the dissidents’ “days are numbered.” The legislation, approved by Bolivia’s legislature on Sunday, clears the legal path for Paz to declare a national state of emergency that would formally authorize military deployment to clear blockades and suppress the protest movement. Paz has long implied that former left-wing president Evo Morales, the leader of Bolivia’s first Indigenous-led government and his political predecessor, alongside Morales’ base of coca-growing supporters, are behind the unrest in a plot to destabilize the country’s first conservative government in 20 years. “Our security is put at risk when narco‑terrorism, and the priorities of certain actors, are not aligned with our democracy, our constitution,” Paz stated during the ceremony. “They put their own interests above those of Bolivian society.” As the crisis drags on, a growing counter-movement has emerged among residents exhausted by the shortages and disruption. On Monday, hundreds of Bolivians marched through central La Paz waving white flags and chanting “Peace for La Paz,” calling for an immediate end to the paralyzing roadblocks. Ninoska Diaz, a market vendor who joined the counter-protest, told AFP that widespread deprivation has become unbearable for ordinary citizens: “We can no longer bear the hunger of the people, whose food baskets are empty.” In a post to social platform X on Sunday, Paz attempted to strike a more optimistic tone, acknowledging that the capital La Paz and the country’s second-largest city El Alto “are still facing difficult times, but concrete progress is also beginning to be made,” including improvements to disrupted fuel distribution networks. Paz, who took office in November on a promise to resolve Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in decades, has seen public anger surge over his unpopular austerity-focused economic reforms and his perceived failure to address urgent social needs. Morales, who has been in hiding to avoid prosecution on charges related to an alleged relationship with a minor that resulted in a child, has been directly accused by Paz’s administration of orchestrating the current unrest. International backing for Paz’s handling of the crisis arrived last Friday, when the new “Shield of the Americas” anti-cartel alliance, launched by former U.S. President Donald Trump and made up of pro-U.S. administrations across Latin America including Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, issued an unambiguous statement of support for the embattled Bolivian president.

A firestorm of political controversy has swept across Australia after a sexist electoral campaign targeting Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan drew widespread condemnation — and sparked an extraordinary rebuke from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who has doubled down on her criticism of the embattled state leader. At the center of the outrage is an outdoor billboard bearing the inflammatory slogan “Ditch the Witch,” a phrase already notorious in Australian politics for its use against former prime minister Julia Gillard during the 2011 national carbon tax debate. Friday brought confirmation that the campaign counts partial funding from Franco Puleo, a Melbourne-based brothel owner, which amplified public backlash almost immediately.

In comments delivered to Sky News on Monday night, Senator Hanson rejected widespread labeling of the slogan as misogynistic, and instead told Premier Allan to “suck it up” and accept harsh political criticism. Drawing on her own 30-year career in public office, Hanson argued that strong language is par for the course in Australian politics, adding “if the shoe fits, wear it.” The One Nation leader went on to tie the inflammatory slogan to widespread public discontent with Allan’s leadership, listing rising violent crime, street gang activity, and ongoing conflict over transmission line development in Victoria’s agricultural sector as evidence that Allan’s government had failed the state. “It’s an absolute basket case,” Hanson said of Victoria, adding that if harsh words are enough to derail a sitting premier, they cannot be trusted to manage a state of millions. “I’ve been called so many things over my career, it’s water off a duck’s back now,” Hanson wrote in a follow-up social media post.

But the far-right leader’s comments have been roundly rejected by political figures across the ideological spectrum. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led national condemnation on Monday, warning that dehumanizing, sexist political rhetoric creates a culture that can lead to violence against elected officials. “What I don’t want to do is to have a press conference in this courtyard after a tragedy,” Albanese said, calling on political actors to “turn the temperature down” on aggressive discourse. The prime minister added that unchecked misogyny in politics discourages women from entering public life, eroding what should be an honourable profession.

Puleo, the campaign’s co-funder, has denied that the slogan is sexist, rejecting widespread criticism of the messaging. For her part, Allan acknowledged that political disagreement is a normal part of democracy, but emphasized the broader harm of the slogan. “I care that this attacks women. And I care about who’s next,” she said, noting that Australian political debate has grown increasingly corrosive over the past decade. Even Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, who leads the state’s center-right opposition against Allan’s Labor government, called the slogan “not appropriate language,” though she framed the campaign as the work of a small, unrepresentative fringe group.

The most high-profile show of solidarity came from Julia Gillard, the former prime minister who was targeted by the exact same “witch” slur 15 years ago. In a rare public statement on social media, Gillard said she had long held that the treatment of women in Australian politics was slowly improving, with misogyny becoming less common in mainstream political discourse even as social media remains a toxic space. “I am saddened to see that improvement cast aside and this tired old trope resurrected,” Gillard said.

The controversy comes at a precarious moment for Allan, who took over the Victorian premiership from the controversial Daniel Andrews in 2023. The premier is facing a tough state election contest this November, with polling showing declining approval ratings, ongoing public friction over infrastructure projects and rising crime, and a sharp surge in support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party in the state. Recent days have even brought open questions about the future of Allan’s leadership of the state Labor party, as internal and external critics increasingly question her ability to hold the line against growing conservative and far-right momentum.