The Swiss People's Party (German: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (French: Union démocratique du centre, UDC), is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of the Council of States.
The SVP was founded in 1971 by the merger of the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB) and the Democratic Party, while the BGB in turn had been founded on the background of the emerging local farmers' parties in the late 1910s. The SVP initially didn't witness any increased support beyond that of the BGB, remaining at around 11% of the vote through the 1970s and 1980s. This changed however during the 1990s, when the party underwent deep structural and ideological changes under the influence of Christoph Blocher, turning the party to become the strongest party in Switzerland by the 2000s.
In line with the changes led by Blocher, the party started to focus increasingly on issues such as Euroscepticism and opposition to immigration. The SVP currently has 58 seats in the Federal Assembly, and its vote share of 29% in the 2007 Federal Council election was the highest vote ever recorded for a single party in Switzerland. Following Blocher's failed re-election as Federal Councillor in 2007, moderates within the party split off, forming the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP). The party does not belong to any Europe-wide party, but sits with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in PACE.
The SVP adheres to national conservatism, aiming at the preservation of Switzerland's political sovereignty and a conservative society. Furthermore, the party promotes the principle of individual responsibility and is skeptical toward any expansion of governmental services. This stance is most evident in the rejection of an accession of Switzerland to the European Union, the rejection of military involvement abroad, and the rejection of increases in government spending on social welfare and education.
The emphases of the party's policies lie in foreign policy, immigration and homeland security policy as well as tax and social welfare policy. Among political opponents, the SVP has gained a reputation as a party that maintains a hard-line stance.
Foreign policy
In its foreign policy the SVP opposes increased involvement of Switzerland in intergovernmental and especially supranational organisations, including the UN, EEA, EU, Schengen and Dublin treaties, and closer ties with the NATO. The party stands for a strict neutrality of the country and the preservation of the strong role of the Swiss army as the institution responsible for national defense. The army shall remain a militia force and should never become involved in interventions abroad.
In June and July 2010, the party used the silly season for floating the notion of a "Greater Switzerland", where instead of Switzerland joining the EU, the border regions of Switzerland's neighbours would join Switzerland, submitted in July in the form of a motion to the Federal Council by Dominique Baettig, signed by 26 SVP Councillors. Some, such as newspaper Die Welt, have also speculated that the initiative could be a response to the suggestion by Muammar al-Gaddafi to dissolve Switzerland and divide its territory among its neighbouring countries.
Immigration
In its immigration policy the party commits itself to make asylum laws stricter and to reduce immigration. The SVP warns of immigration into the social welfare system and criticises the high proportion of foreigners among the public insurance benefit recipients and other social welfare programs. According to the opinion of the party, such benefits amount to waste of taxpayers' money. Numerous SVP members have shown themselves to be critical of Islam by having participated in the minaret controversy, during which they pushed for an initiative to ban the construction of minarets.
Another key concern of the SVP is what it alleges is an increasing influence of the judiciary on politics. According to the SVP, this influence, especially through international law, increasingly puts the Swiss direct democracy in question. Public law which is legitimate by direct democracy standards should be agreed upon by the federal court. The international law, which according to the SVP is not democratically legitimate, shall always be subordinate to the Swiss law. The SVP also criticises the judiciary as undemocratic because the courts have made decisions against the will of the majority. Therefore, the SVP promotes the preservation of voting procedures in the question of the naturalization of foreigners even after a federal court ruling deemed such procedures as unconstitutional. According to the SVP, the racism penalty and anti-racism commission should be abolished in the interest of freedom of speech.
Economy
The SVP supports supply-side economics. Thus it is a proponent of lower taxes and is against deficit spending. The SVP is in a dilemma in terms of its agricultural policy since, in consideration of it being the most popular party among farmers, it cannot reduce agricultural subsidies or curtail the current system of direct payments to farmers. The freedom of movement agreements with the EU and its extension toward new member states of the EU is looked at sceptically by the SVP and is associated with more immigration and higher crime rates.
Environment
In terms of the environment, transportation and energy policy the SVP opposes governmental measures for environmental protection. Therefore, in its transportation policy the party endorses the expansion of the Swiss motorway network and is against the preference of public transportation over individual transportation. It supports the construction of Megaprojects such as AlpTransit but criticizes the cost increases and demands more transparency. In the scope of environmentalism and energy policy the SVP is against the carbon tax and supports the use of nuclear energy. In the context of reductions of CO2 emissions, the SVP cites the limited impact of Switzerland and instead supports globally, and legally binding agreements to address Global climate change.
Social policy
In social welfare policy the SVP rejects expansion of the welfare state, and stands for a conservative society. It opposes the public financing of maternity leave and nursery schools. The SVP is sceptical toward governmental support of an equalisation of both genders, and the SVP has the smallest proportion of women among parties represented in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland. In addition, the SVP has a repressive drug policies, opposing the legalisation of the consumption of drugs such as cannabis. At the same time, however, the party speaks out against measures to limit alcohol and tobacco consumption. In its education policy, it opposes tendencies to shift the responsibility of the upbringing of children from families to public institutions. The party claims that there's an excessive influence of anti-authoritarian ideas originating from the protests of 1968. In general, the party supports strengthening crime prevention measures against social crimes and, especially in the areas of social welfare policy and education policy, a return to meritocracy.
