The proposal to pay him a bonus to the retirees, driven by the unions, was supported by 58.24% of voters in 16 cantons, according to the final results.
Instead, Another initiative that was voted on this Sunday, to increase the retirement age from 65 to 66, was rejected by 75%.
“This is historic”he told AFP Pierre-Yves Maillard, of the Suzia Trade Union Federation (SGB). The Green Party, for its part, praised a “significant victory […] for many retirees whose situation will improve.
For these types of initiatives to go ahead, they must be endorsed by a majority in most of the country’s 26 cantons. Ten cantons rejected the proposal, according to the results.
Left-wing parties defended this improvement in pensions, but the proposal ran into resistance from the right and centrist formations, as well as the federal government and parliament.
How much does a retiree earn and what is the cost of living in Switzerland
In Swiss, the retired receive social security pensions of up to 2,450 Swiss francs ($2,780) and 3,675 francs for a couple. But in a country that always appears at the top of the list of the most expensive places in the world, these benefits are not enough.
The approved initiative plans to pay the monthly payment and an extraordinary payment from 2026, which will increase to 31,850 Swiss francs (about 33,200 euros) annually for single people and up to 47,775 (about 49,900 euros) for married people. The value represents an increase of 8.33% of the state pension.
In the city, the rent of a three-bedroom apartment costs, at least, 3,000 Swiss francs (about $3,400), and a coffee costs more than 5 francs.
“The cost of living simply continues to rise,” said one retireecited on the website of the initiative’s promoters.
The Swiss Government warns of the fiscal cost of increasing pensions
He government states that this increase implies a cost of 4 billion Swiss francs per yearthat this may require an increase in taxes and that threatens financial stability of the social security system.
After the referendum, the Minister of the Interior, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, was congratulated on the public channel RTS because the “democracy is alive in Switzerland” but He warned that “a price will have to be paid.”
Still, he stated that The government and Parliament will get to work so that pensioners receive an extra payment from 2026.
But the Swiss Trade Union Federation said Sunday that the results “clearly show that the government, a majority in parliament and employers have ignored the pension problem for too long.”
Switzerland: referendum rejected raising the retirement age
The second initiative proposal to vote this Sunday sought increase retirement agebut a 74.72% of voters rejected it.
The reform, proposed by the youth of the right-wing Liberal Party, proposed gradually increase the retirement age from 65 to 66 years in the next decade, to -according to its promoters- ensure the viability of the pension system.
In all the cantons of the country a majority of voters rejected the proposalless than two years after Switzerland approved increasing the retirement age of women from 64 to 65, to equal that of men.
Source: Ambito
