Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland

History

The EDU was founded in 1975 as a split of the Evangelical People's Party and the Nationale Aktion.

In the 1970s and 1980s, support of the EDU grew particularly with conservative free-church groups, both traditional and newly established. The language of the EDU was influenced during this time by a directive and on the basis of interest in dispensationalism from an eschatological tone.

In 1991 it entered the Swiss National Council with one seat and in 2003, it gained a second seat. In May 2007 the party became a member of the European Christian Political Movement, which claims: "The source of these Christian values are the Bible and the Christian tradition. These sources are in itself not a political program. These sources call us to serve the people of Europe...". The EDU is no longer listed as being a member of the ECPM.

The EDU received 1.3% of the popular vote in the 2007 elections, and retained one of its two seats in the Swiss National Council, held by Andreas Brönnimann, who represented the canton of Berne.

However, in the 2011 elections, the party lost its seat in the Swiss National Council, even though it still received the same percentage of the popular vote.

Ideology

The EDU sees itself as a Christian party and uses the Bible as the guideline for its policies. On questions concerning the environment, the EDU stands rather center-left, however with family, social, and educational policy, the EDU takes a conservative stance. The EDU want a debt-free state and defends itself against what its critics call "tax giveaways to the rich."

The EDU has close connections to free churches.

Social policy

The EDU rejects equating homosexual and heterosexual marriages and is committed against abortion, euthanasia, and the exploitation of women by sexist advertising. Thus, the EDU calls that abortion should not be financed by public funds and suicide tourism should be prohibited. Also, the EDU is against heroin clinics and calls for a smoking ban in restaurants and bars. The EDU supports traditional families. The EDU is skeptical of the equalization of both genders, saying that is neglecting of children, and believes that the main caregivers of children are ideally the parents.

The EDU sponsored an unsuccessful referendum, held on November 27, 2016 in the Canton of Zürich, that would have defined marriage as only between one man and one woman.

Foreign policy

The EDU is critical of the European Union, the UN, and NATO. As a Eurosceptic party, it is against membership in the EU, however it supports bilateral treaties with it. The EDU views the increased immigration to Switzerland as an integration problem and says that to increase security, adjusting the freedom of movement, the Schengen Agreement, and the Dublin Regulation with the EU is necessary. Also, the EDU is in support for permanent neutrality and is against peace-keeping missions of the Swiss military. The EDU supported the Swiss minaret ban, and the federal popular initiative "Against mass immigration".

Environmental policy

In environmental policy, the EDU does not see the real problem as in climate change, but rather in the enormous consumption of resources and energy. Thus, the EDU supports a dedicated, time-limited incentive tax on the oil tax for fossil fuels and propellants and calls the replacement of the Climate Cent and the CO2 tax (gasoline, etc.). The proceeds of this incentive tax would go to renewable energy sources such as water, wind, and solar energy and would promote energy efficiency. In the long term, the EDU wants to phase out nuclear energy in Switzerland. The EDU supports the expansion of the public transportation system, but only supports the implementation of large projects when funding is secured.

Party presidents