Swiss Review 6/2020

Swiss Review / November 2020 / No.6 28 Politics Palm oil referendum adds fuel to the political fire Swiss palm oil imports from Indonesia face stiff opposition. Consequently, Switzerland’s free trade agreement with the South East Asian country is under scrutiny. Voters will soon give their verdict. EVA HIRSCHI For the first time ever, binding rules on sustainability directly govern the import of palm oil. This is actually quite amilestone. A special provision has been stipulated in the trade agree- ment between Indonesia and the EFTA countries Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, in which Switzerland played the main negotiating role. The Federal Council signed the agreement – essentially a free trade agreement – inDecember 2018. Parlia- ment approved it one year later. How- ever, palmoil is excluded fromthe free trade arrangement. Switzerland grants reductions in customs duties on specific volumes of Indonesian palmoil, but for certified, sustainable products only. “This incentivises In- donesian producers to manufacture sustainable palm oil,” explains Jan At- teslander, Head of International Rela- tions with the business federation economiesuisse. “The agreement with Indonesia goes the furthest in terms of sustainability, which is remarkable.” Opposition from the farming lobby and other organisations However, the agreement is not yet home and dry. Swiss voters are set to decide on the matter in March, after the Genevan organic winemaker Willy Cretegny teamed up in June with the Uniterre farmers’ union in French-speaking Switzerland to sub- mit a referendum proposal that has been backed by around 50 different organisations. “They are clearing the rainforest and destroying nature for the sake of palm oil,” says vegetable producer and Uniterre vice director Rudi Berli. “It is also having a negative effect on Swiss oilseed production.” Swiss farmers are worried about palm oil distorting the market. Eas- ily the most inexpensive oil around, palmoil dominates the globalmarket. No other plant oil ismanufactured in such big quantities, with production volumes having quadrupled from Indonesian workers harvesting ripe oil palm fruit on a plan- tation in northern Sumatra. Fruit bunch- es can weigh up to 50 kilograms. Photo: Keystone