This story concerns a Dutch woman who has lived in Switzerland for years and has applied for citizenship there. Swiss law gives the members of her community a vote in whether or not she gets citizenship.
The woman is an energetic campaigner for animal rights and a vegan. The villagers voted "No" on her citizenship.
Switzerland has a law which takes residents consideration in a passport application. Holten’s first attempt to become a citizen was made in 2015, when she was approved by local authorities but rejected by the vast majority in the resident’s vote–144 out of 206 declined her naturalization.The meticulousness which makes Swiss watches legendary is on display throughout the country, everywhere you look. Switzerland is a country of almost painful tidiness: no graffiti, no homelessness, great order and charm.
Tanja Suter, the president of the Swiss People’s Party, cites Holten’s “big mouth” as the chief reason why she was declined, adding that residents did not want to grant her citizenship “if she annoys us and doesn’t respect our traditions.”
A village government spokesperson told The Local that people who put themselves in the spotlight and annoy residents face the real threat of being declined Swiss citizenship: “It can cause the community to not want such a person in their midst.”
As noted above, the Swiss do not permit unpleasant things to happen. They know how they want their country to look and operate, they mandate it by law, and they enforce those laws. A certain amount of individual freedom is sacrificed to attain such perfection.
The other DrC and I rode several Swiss trains a day for two weeks, and perhaps one of those 90 or so trains was more than a couple of minutes late. Most left within seconds of the scheduled time, all were clean.
Muslim immigrants wanted to build mosques, with minarets (towers). The Swiss said fine, but no minarets. The Muslims complained that you have bell towers on churches. The Swiss replied that is our tradition, we do not care to import your traditions.
