The proposal

As part of the second round of bilateral negotiations with the EU, Switzerland successfully negotiated its participation in the Schengen and Dublin agreements. This will strengthen international cooperation in the areas of policing, justice, visas, and asylum. At the same time, it will prevent our neighboring countries from carrying out systematic checks at the Swiss borders that would impede traffic.

• The Schengen Agreement abolishes systematic passport controls at the borders between Schengen countries. At the same time, it increases security through a series of measures. These include cross-border cooperation, controls at the external borders of the Schengen area, and the SIS search database.
• A yes to Schengen does not mean that border controls will be abolished in Switzerland. The Swiss Border Guard will continue to check goods and may also check persons. No customs facilities will be dismantled. As before, checks will also be carried out within the country.
• The Dublin Agreement stipulates that asylum procedures only need to be carried out in one of the participating states. Thanks to the Eurodac fingerprint database, people who have already applied for asylum can be identified and rejected.

Several committees have launched a referendum. There are fears that crime will increase without systematic border controls and that the two agreements will pave the way for EU accession. In addition, the amendment to the Weapons Act has been met with opposition.

Results

The proposal was accepted.

Voter turnout: 56.6%
Yes votes: 54.6%