“Switzerland to Vote on Guaranteeing Citizens Access to Cash”

Swiss citizens will be given the opportunity to ensure their economy never goes cashless, an advocacy group said after collecting enough signatures on Monday to trigger a referendum on the issue.

The Free Switzerland Movement (FBS) says cash is playing a shrinking role in many economies as electronic payments become the standard for transactions in increasingly digitized societies, making it easier for the state to monitor the actions of its citizens.

She wants to add a clause to the Swiss currency law, which regulates the management of the money supply by the central bank and the state, that stipulates that a “sufficient amount” of banknotes or coins must always remain in circulation.

There is no evidence of moves towards a cashless society by the Swiss authorities.

FBS said it had collected over 111,000 signatures in support of the measure, more than the 100,000 needed to trigger a popular vote.

In defense of cash

Under the system of direct democracy in Switzerland, the proposal would become law if approved by the electorate, although government and parliament would decide how this law was implemented.

“It is clear that … the abolition of cash not only touches on issues of transparency, simplicity or security … but also poses the grave threat of totalitarian surveillance,” FBS President Richard Koller said on the group’s website.

He also sees Switzerland as the European flag-bearer for the defense of cash, as enforcing such guarantees in the European Union would entail the “almost impossible” process of getting approval from all 27 member states.

Accelerated by the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns, the trend towards more cashless payments was already apparent in 2017, when an Ipsos study found that more than a third of Europeans and Americans would like to give up cash and pretty much 20 percent already did .

Source: www.euronews.com