Can a country set a fixed limit on its population? That is the question Switzerland will answer on Sunday, June 14, when voters go to the polls to decide on a proposal to cap its population at 10 million.
The move is backed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, which describes it as a "sustainability initiative" aimed at easing pressure on housing, public services and the environment.
The Swiss government, all other major parties, business leaders and unions have called the proposal a "chaos initiative", arguing it would deprive hospitals and hotels of much-needed staff and damage hard-won relations with the European Union, leaving non-EU Switzerland isolated in a very risky world.
Switzerland's population has grown rapidly - from 7.3 million in 2002 to 9.1 million today. 27% of whom are foreigners.
Many voters are concerned about crowded trains, expensive apartments and rising healthcare costs.
The latest opinion polls show that most voters will be "against", namely 52%. About 45% will be "for" the restriction.
Helin Genis and Nils Fichter have a lot in common, but their diametrically opposed views on limiting Switzerland's population are indicative of the polarized nature of this referendum.
Both are young local politicians from immigrant families. Fichter is 29 and Genis is 31. Helin's parents are from Turkey, while Nils' mother is from Canada and he has dual citizenship.
"We have lost control," laments Fichter, who represents the Swiss People's Party in the Bern cantonal parliament. "Uncontrolled immigration means that Switzerland is no longer Switzerland." He believes that Switzerland's problems, which he says include "a housing shortage, traffic jams, overcrowded schools and strained social services," are a direct result of immigration.
Genis, a Social Democrat elected to Bern's city council, dismisses these arguments as scapegoating. She tells BBC News: "It's not migrants who set rents. It's not migrants who raise health insurance premiums. Nor do migrants make political decisions about housing, infrastructure or social investment.“
For voters who have not yet made up their minds, a key question is how exactly the population "ceiling" plan will work.
Placing a hard limit on the number of residents is not a measure that any other country has tried, although China, with its now-abandoned one-child policy, has tried to slow population growth.
The Swiss proposal states that the population should not exceed 10 million before 2050 and orders the government to take action once the figure of 9.5 million is reached. Such plans could include limiting the number of people granted asylum in Switzerland and ending family reunification rights for foreign workers.
If the 10 million cap is to be reached, international agreements to which Switzerland is a signatory, including the free movement of people within the EU, would have to be suspended. The prospect has raised concerns among Swiss business association Economiesuisse. Its chief economist, Rudolf Minsch, said that if the proposal is accepted, Switzerland “could face challenges in its relations with the European Union.”
That’s because Brussels has long warned non-EU countries that they cannot simply opt for the benefits of the EU’s single market and shirk commitments such as the free movement of people.
“The EU is still Switzerland’s most important trading partner,” Minsch explained, adding that it was “in our interest to have a stable and clear relationship with our main trading partner.”
Swiss employers are also worried about labor shortages and the loss of access to a European pool of skilled workers. Half of all hotel workers in Switzerland are immigrants. Hospitals and nursing homes also rely on foreign workers.
The Swiss People's Party argues that immigration to Switzerland simply fuels a growing demand for more hospital beds and more school places, and that restricting immigration would ease the pressure.
Opponents say this is unrealistic, pointing out that 20% of Switzerland's population is now over 65. Young workers and young taxpayers are being asked to hire staff and finance the needs of an aging population – and Switzerland is not creating these young workers itself, they warn.
For some countries, such as Bulgaria, where the opposite trend is observed - depopulation, such a referendum seems quite abstract. In our country, the declining population leads to a number of problems, the most acute of which is the shortage of labor. In recent years, Bulgarian employers have been demanding easier access for workers from third countries due to the shortage of personnel in construction, tourism, transport and industry.