Stop constitutional violations without end

The Federal Council and parliament have learned nothing from the Corona measures debacle: they are constantly committing new breaches of the constitution, relying on emergency law and urgent federal laws to trick the people. The Friends of the Constitution strongly condemn this corruption of democratic mores. Bernese politicians must return to the ground of the constitution and respect the people's rights as soon as possible.

It all happened within a few days during the current autumn session of the Federal Assembly in Bern. In several cases, the elected representatives of the people trampled on the Swiss Constitution or disregarded the rights of the people:

• Extension of the Covid Law: The National Council wants to extend the Covid law by two years until the end of 2024. The focus is on the extended use of the useless and discriminatory certificate. But the final decision will only be taken by the Council of States in the winter session. Behind this is another manoeuvre to trick direct democracy: the extension of the Covid law would be declared urgent. This would leave only a few weeks until it came into force on 1 January. Months would pass before the referendum against it could be held - and even longer before a referendum. In this way, the sovereign and direct democracy are undermined. That is not acceptable.
• AHV and premium reduction: Also through urgent legislative changes or even emergency legislation, the centre-left majority wants to inject massively more tax money into the Reduction of health insurance premiums and adjust AHV pensions to inflation. Here, too, the democratic rules of the game are being suspended. Even Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer sees it that way. Emergency law was not created for such situations, the legal basis is missing, he said in the Council debate.
• Disfigurement of the Alps: Finally, the parliament wants to cram through the disfigurement of our Alps by wind turbines and open-space solar plants as a matter of urgency. On the one hand, this violates the content of various constitutional provisions, on the other hand, it deprives the sovereign of its rights once again. This is confirmed by the renowned constitutional law expert Prof. Dr. Alain Griffel from the Institute of Law at the University of Zurich: "I share the assessment that the Federal Act on Urgent Measures for the Short-Term Provision of a Secure Power Supply in Winter, even in the version passed yesterday by the National Council, is problematic from a constitutional point of view in various respects and therefore urgently needs to be subjected to an in-depth constitutional assessment." This is "all the more necessary as it is the responsibility of parliament to examine the constitutionality of a law and to comply with it".

Constitutionalists fight erosion of the rule of law
The Friends of the Constitution strongly condemn this continued and repeated disregard of the Federal Constitution and the direct democratic rights of the people by Parliament. It cannot and must not be that the elected representatives of the people elevate themselves above the Constitution and the people. This corruption of democratic mores and of the people's Erosion of the rule of law must be stopped. The current incidents show that the existence and work of the Friends of the Constitution is more important than ever. When the people's representatives betray the people and the constitution, there is a need for an independent political force that consistently stands up for the respect of fundamental rights and direct democracy.

For enquiries: pressestelle@verfassungfreunde.ch