Switzerland - EU Federal Office of Justice defends expert opinion on EU referendum

The Director of the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) has defended his office's report on the referendum on the outcome of the EU negotiations. "The FOJ does not produce expert opinions for the sake of convenience," said Michael Schöll in an interview.

The legal analysis, which was published at the end of June, came to the conclusion that the result of the EU negotiations cannot be subject to a mandatory referendum under the current constitution, but only to an optional referendum. This means that a majority of the people would suffice and a majority of the cantons would not be required. The hurdle for the EU proposal in a vote would therefore be lower.

In an interview with the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" on Saturday, lawyer Schöll expressed his own surprise at the clarity of the legal analysis. However, the analysis clearly showed that there could not be a mandatory state treaty referendum on the basis of the constitution in this case, even as an exception.

"Practically all legal arguments speak in favor of this view," said Schöll. "This has obviously caused irritation. But so far no one has shown me that our expert opinion has any errors or gaps."

The expert opinion is a legal and not a political assessment. In Switzerland, there is no authority that can make binding decisions on the interpretation of the constitution for all legal issues. The Federal Council does not intend to decide which proposal it will submit to the Federal Assembly until the dispatch on the negotiation package with the EU.

The SVP, which rejects negotiations with the EU in principle, made it clear earlier that it considers a vote with a majority of the cantons to be necessary.