In a recent referendum, a majority of the Swiss approved a ban on the construction of new minarets in their country.
Now activist European European judges may tell Switzerland to lift the ban.
Now activist European European judges may tell Switzerland to lift the ban.
The Swiss, however, might not be impressed. On November 29, a 57.5% majority of the Swiss voters, approved a ban on the construction of new minarets in their country.
The four existing minarets are allowed to remain, and the building of new mosques - Switzerland already has some 200 mosques - is also permitted, but the Swiss electorate does not want any new minarets towering over Swiss cities and villages.
The referendum result was not the answer the Swiss federal government in Bern wanted. The government had actively campaigned for a “No” in the Ban-the-Minaret referendum. Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the outcome.
Turnout for the referendum was unusually high, with 53% of the electorate casting a vote and an overwhelming majority of 22 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons supporting the ban.
If Switzerland were part of the European Union (EU), the Swiss would no doubt be made to vote again until they give the answer their government wants.
If Switzerland were part of the European Union (EU), the Swiss would no doubt be made to vote again until they give the answer their government wants.
That is what some self-declared “democrats” are, indeed, proposing. - “The Swiss will have to vote again,” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the leader of the Green group in the EU Parliament told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. - “But the Swiss people have spoken…,” Le Temps objected. - “So what?”