Recent initiative in Switzerland aims to reduce hurdles to naturalization

GENEVA

A recent initiative in Switzerland aims to make it easier for foreigners to become naturalized citizens, according to local media on Wednesday.

The initiative, launched by the association Aktion VierVierTel, suggests that those who have lived in Switzerland for five years and with a basic knowledge of an official language should already be eligible for naturalization, the Swiss news portal Watson reported.

The head of the initiative committee is Kosovo-born Social Democratic Party politician Arber Bullakaj.

Around 2 million people living in Switzerland currently do not have a Swiss passport and are not allowed to have a say in the country's elections.

According to the initiative, the requirements for naturalization should be objectively defined in the federal constitution, and anyone who has lived in Switzerland for five years, has a basic knowledge of a national language, and has not been sentenced to a lengthy prison term should be able to become a Swiss citizen on application.

Bullakaj noted: "It's about people who have worked hard for years and have not come to Switzerland to give German lectures," he told the Swiss daily 20 Minuten.

He also criticized different rules of each Swiss canton, and recalled that one woman was not naturalized because she did not know when the renowned center European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, was founded.

"Today, questions have to be answered for the red passport that overwhelms most Swiss people," Bullakaj said.

Meanwhile, a politician from the conservative SVP party, Gregor Rutz, criticized the initiative, and told the daily 20 Minuten: "Naturalization is the conclusion of the integration process -- and not the beginning, as certain circles are demanding."

In Switzerland, each municipality can set its own rules for naturalization, as long as they remain under cantonal law and federal law.

Federal law requires at least 10 years of residence in Switzerland, including three years during the five years that precede the submission of the application, for naturalization.

The Swiss citizenship law also stipulates that citizenship is only granted to persons who have been successfully integrated, are familiar with Swiss living conditions, and do not endanger the internal and external security of Switzerland.