Is Switzerland tired of prosperity? I can think of no other reason for our next foolish referendum | Joseph de Weck

Capping the population at 10 million is a far-right fantasy.

It would dismantle the openness that has made the country rich

Zürich on a Sunday morning can feel like the day after Armageddon: so empty, so calm, despite being Switzerland’s biggest city.

But then the church bells erupt across the lake basin, and a jogger trots by like a polite deer in aerodynamic sunglasses, and one knows that all is fine in this proudly impeccable place, where little is left to chance and the authorities even https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/de/umwelt-und-energie/natur/tiere-in-der-stadt/tauben-monitoring.html">track the city’s pigeons with GPS.

Swiss people know they are lucky.

A highly diversified economy keeps salaries high and income inequality https://www.economiesuisse.ch/de/artikel/hohe-loehne-tiefe-ungleichheit-und-ein-attraktiver-standort">comparatively low.

A British friend once remarked that our supermarkets feel like the gourmet hall at Harrods.

The state makes business easy.

Hiking paths are maintained by armies of https://www.schweizer-wanderwege.ch/de/unterstuetzen/freiwilligeneinsatz">volunteers.

The flip side is our reputation for being a nation of humourless control freaks, but there are benefits to trains running on time.

In a restless world, Switzerland remains a place where one can exhale.

Joseph de Weck is an associate fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations and writes for Guardian Europe from Zürich and Paris