BERN - Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on Wednesday that the Federal Council's choice of referendum for the new EU treaties is not only a legal argument. A cantonal majority would make a yes much harder. Ministers want an optional vote, decided by a simple majority of the people.
We cannot deny that there is also a tactical element to these considerations.
That was Cassis's line when he set out the policy. The government says the package does not amend the constitution, so it should follow Bilaterals I and II. Opponents say the text is large enough to deserve the double majority that constitutional changes require: people and cantons.
Why small cantons matter
A double majority lets a cluster of smaller cantons stop a proposal that wins the national count. Campaigners who want the higher bar know that rural and conservative cantons have blocked federal projects before. Cassis was open that Bern would rather not hand them that lever on this file.
Parliament has not settled it
The Senate is the chamber that will have to choose. A motion associated with FDP senator Andrea Caroni has kept the constitutional route in the conversation even while the cabinet asks for the ordinary treaty vote. The committee history of the package is in our February note. Nothing in Wednesday's remarks writes the ballot question. It tells you which question the government hopes parliament will refuse.