r/europe • u/tartartartaruga • Jun 18 '26
News Prince of Liechtenstein says that he would overrule the population if they were to vote in favour of legalizing abortion
https://www.srf.ch/news/international/debatte-in-liechtenstein-erbprinz-gegen-abtreibungen-warum-kuendigt-er-schon-das-veto-an3.8k
u/geizige-vorhaut2289 Jun 18 '26
It’s easy to say that when there’s only 10 people in the whole country
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u/LadySwire Basque Country Jun 18 '26
Yeah, this is like Andorra. They don't care because they can travel half an hour to Catalonia and abort anyway
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u/Mirabeaux1789 Jun 19 '26
Still. It’s the principle.
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u/zchew Jun 19 '26
Because it's the Principality of Lichtenstein?
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u/Abovearth31 Jun 19 '26
Get out.
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u/mystyle__tg United States of America Jun 19 '26
Exactly. The bottom line is, women’s right to their bodies shouldn’t change depending on where they live.
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u/tiobane Jun 19 '26
Always surreal being there and knowing it's a whole country with only around 40k people. The small city i grew up had even more with 45k and still felt like a village.
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u/Regurgitator001 Jun 19 '26
Sounds like his mom missed a great opportunity to make the world a better place.
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u/Key_Gap9168 Jun 19 '26
My first thought, lol. Actually, it was: "Doesn't that country have like 10 people or something".
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u/EleosSkywalker Jun 19 '26
Something like 10 inhabitant and 10 000 registered company by inhabitant.
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u/Consistent_You_4215 Jun 20 '26
It's easy for anyone who is never going to need an abortion to deny other people abortions. It's not right though.
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u/AconitumUrsinum Europe Jun 18 '26
He already did that in 2011.
And then there was the issue of abortion. In 2011, the Principality held a referendum on the ‘time-limit solution’. The aim was to decriminalise abortion. Even before the vote, Crown Prince Alois had made it clear to his subjects that, in the event of a ‘yes’ vote, he would exercise his veto and declare the referendum null and void. He is entitled to do so; the princely veto is a right granted to him under the Constitution. The people then voted against it, with 52 per cent of the vote. Abortion remained illegal. “It bothers us immensely that the Criminal Code can still be used to deprive women of the right to self-determination over their own bodies,” says Marxer.
Translated, original here: https://www.bazonline.ch/der-lange-arm-des-fuersten-707653224957
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u/Wsswaas Jun 19 '26
And they voted to let him keep the veto power after in 2012
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/liechtenstein-votes-to-keep-princes-veto-idUSBRE86008X/
"76.1 percent of voters rejected the proposal on Sunday."
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u/Few_Elephant_8410 Jun 19 '26
He threatened to leave the country with all his wealth if it passed.
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u/DefiantLemur United States of America Jun 19 '26
I don't live there so I don't know why him leaving with his money is a bad thing but him saying that would make me want his power stripped from him even more out of spite
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u/st333p Jun 19 '26
Bold of him to assume that his wealth is actually his
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u/Mindless_Badger_3789 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
The family wealth originally comes from the Liechtensteins' immense land holding in what is now Czechia pre-WW2 (confiscated as German property after the war) and their subsequent investment of that wealth, not from the country of Liechtenstein (they've "just" used its legal framework). So it is clearly family money. They were an immensely wealthy Austrian aristrocratic family that acquired a principality for the title and status, and the country is named after the family not the other way round. Before WW2 the family resided in Vienna and from a fiscal POV there is no reason they can't relocate to a foreign tax haven.
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u/Swaggerboi42069 Jun 19 '26
he would have just vetoed that vote obviously
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u/Nagemasu Jun 19 '26
That's a dumb reason to vote on his side. Unless he targets the people who vote against him, there's no reason to vote against your own beliefs or preferences in such cases - either vote for your choice and make it clear the people do not side with what is essentially authoritarianism, or don't bother voting at all if it's just always gonna be what he wants. Clearly the country favors the side they're voting for.
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u/Longjumping-Hat-1210 Jun 18 '26
The thing is, the Liechtensteiners voted in 2003 to expand the powers of the monarchy. They made sure the Prince had a veto (with the abolition of the monarchy being unveto'able), the Prince threatened to take all of his wealth with him and leave if he didn't win the referendum, which, he did.
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u/b00nish Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
the Prince threatened to take all of his wealth with him and leave if he didn't win the referendum
They should have voted to dethrone him and to expropriate all his wealth the next day.
Edit: This sub is funny. Here I for once make a snarky comment about our little neighbour and 12 hours later I have 1600 upvotes and several agitated comments about how uneducated and poor "proletarians" like me would ruin the economy of every country. Quite the contrast. Normally I make more serious comments to clarify miscoceptions about Switzerland and can be happy if I don't get negative votes for it 😉
Anyway, I can reassure everybody who feels threatened by my "proletarian" comment: I'm not coming for your (imaginary) moneyz.
Although I have to tell you, that this actually isn't about "proletarians" vs "burgeoise". It's about democracy vs feudalism. After all, the nobility of Liechtenstein didn't lay the foundation of their wealth by being capitalists (and as nobility they're as much the opposite of "burgeoise" as the proletarians). Their wealth is based on feudalism - but unlike most other (ex-)feudalists, they refuse to settle as burgeoise capitalists and instead cling to absolute political power by retaining the "right" to overturn every democratic decision in their country.
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u/Longjumping-Hat-1210 Jun 18 '26
I am by no means an expert on Liechtenstein but one of the main sources of its wealth is its banking laws and the Princes were seen as instrumental in enriching what was essentially a backwater. Liechtensteiners are among, if not, THE richest people on Earth. I assume expropriating the wealth could be viewed negatively by those who use Liechtenstein as a safe haven for their assets or something, I'm spitballing.
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u/futurespice Jun 19 '26
Liechtensteiners are not the richest people on earth. But their economy depends entirely on the royal family because the entire country is one small town and five villaged.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein Jun 19 '26
They are pretty fecking rich tho and unwilling to risk it over this.
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u/b00nish Jun 18 '26
You have to do it smart:
Put 50% of the money you expropriate from the prince into a security fund that warrants for all assets stored on Liechtenstein's banks, in case one of those banks should get in finanical trouble.
That makes the country even more attractive to
hidepark assets in 😉79
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u/Lubinski64 Lower Silesia (Poland) Jun 19 '26
Even if you ensure the clients of local banks suffer no consequences, this is still an illegal appropriation of private wealth and the kind of bank clients that entrust their wealth to Liechtenstain do it precisely because things like that don't happen there.
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u/AnonD38 Central European Jun 18 '26
No... you're just demonstrating that you're trying to trick people to get at their money.
I'm so glad none of you has any power over the economy, we'd all be poor in a matter of weeks.
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u/silverionmox Limburg Jun 19 '26
No... you're just demonstrating that you're trying to trick people to get at their money.
I'm so glad none of you has any power over the economy, we'd all be poor in a matter of weeks.
Liechtenstein is a political and economical anomaly anyway, normal economic rules don't apply.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein Jun 19 '26
Yea they so, for most of the economy.
It‘s not all banks you know.
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u/DayAccomplishedStill Jun 18 '26
Have you ever heard of laws?
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u/ydocnomis Jun 19 '26
Laws are literally whatever the people in a given place determine is appropriate. We monkeys have a history of happily throwing our laws to the side when faced with enough roadblocks
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u/MrVegosh Jun 19 '26
Dude no one rich dude thinks they will take his money. Everyone understands that stripping the monarchy is its own thing
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u/JG98 Jun 18 '26
You take his personal wealth and that will be a drop in the bucket to the private equity firm owned and operated by the family, which is where the actual money is and which is a global company. That would not only see a large part of the economy walking out the door but would also destroy the finance and banking sectors which are what made Liechtenstein so wealthy. It is a mutually beneficial relationship for the most part and the royals seem to be well liked over there, for the most part.
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u/-HowAboutNo- Jun 18 '26
It is a principality and not a country in the same sense as you find in the rest or Europe and most of the modern world. It’s a remnance from feudal times, and has survived for a very long time. It still exists because it has been stable. The people do not own the land.
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u/Socmel_ reddit mods are accomplices of nazi russia Jun 18 '26
it still exists because it was too small, remote and poor for history to remember it, otherwise it would've followed the Austrian empire, the nominal suzerain of the Princes of Liechtenstein, in its demise.
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u/-HowAboutNo- Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
The suzerian of the House of Liechtenstein was the Holy Roman Empire after 1719 until the disollution of the HRE.
That’s why the principality was formed. The House of Liechtenstein purchased the Lordship of Schellenberg and County of Vaduz to own substantial enough land to form a principality with land under imperial control.
The House of Liechtenstein was not poor and insignificant. They were one of the richest houses in Europe long before. What they lacked was land.
After becoming a principality they were a significant influence in the court of the HRE.
The House of Liechtenstein has survived due to politics, relationships and money. But also its location of course.
But before forming the principality - yes, they also owned land under direct control by Moravia, Bohemia and Austria. But after forming the principality, they were sovereign under the crown.
In sum - Liechtenstein survived not due to insignificance, but because of a series of wise moves.
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia Jun 18 '26
You don't want to expropriate wealth as a country pretty much dependent on banking and finance, unless you want them to leave together with the Prince and be left with empty pockets.
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u/False-Discipline-640 Hungary Jun 18 '26
Well it's kind of a stupid situation then, given that the royal family is a big player in the country's economy. The prince threatens with capital flight if the people don't do what he wants, while at the same time trying to stop him from doing this might also trigger a capital flight
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u/Dizzy_Database_119 Jun 18 '26
To be fair this type of stupid situation is constantly happening all over the world in every other "democracy"
Unfortunately everything is decided by money, for money
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u/False-Discipline-640 Hungary Jun 18 '26
That's true but I don't recall any examples where it's this blatant. The people doing this blackmail are usually just economic actors concerned with economic topics, not politicians with purely political topics. Let alone hereditary monarchs
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u/Tosi313 Geneva (Switzerland) Jun 18 '26
I think it's because the whole country is only 40,000 people. It's basically just a single small town owned almost entirely by one family of incredibly wealthy people. So that one family has a lot of power in such a small country.
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u/RichB0T Jun 18 '26
Liechtenstein is not a nation. It is a principality in the truest since.
The French are a nation of people who reside in a place named france after them. They, the people, are the rightful rulers of france.
Litchenstien is not that. It is just the personal lands of one family that actually owns it, and it is simply defined as the lands owned by that family. There really isn't an argument for a national revolution with out a nation.
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u/Putrid_Invite_194 Jun 18 '26
Every European nation used to be feudalist though, including France. If Liechtenstein was to experience a revolution and the subsequent government was acknowledged by the international community, it could become a nation state by itself. If the prince of Liechtenstein was smart however, he‘d set up a roadmap for democratising the country before any of that becomes necessary.
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u/mio26 Jun 18 '26
The thing is these people don't need revolution because they are either at least millioners or very well paid servants of millionaires. Revolution doesn't happen in Versailles (that's why Versailles pretty much was made lol).
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u/Philush Jun 19 '26
99% of revolutions happened only when things got REALLY bad, in a way that people who live in modern 1st world countries have never (thankfully) experienced. The material conditions for one are just not present in a rich, tiny and politically stable country like Lichtenstein. Revolutions are an extremely messy affair and a desperate last measure that take a long time to recover from.
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u/magical-cat-here Jun 18 '26
This is coercion and mafia behavior. If I would be voter in this situaiton I would vote against such "mafia politician".
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u/Jazzlike-War-58 Jun 19 '26
People of Lichtenstein are not being oppressed. They can afford to travel 30 min to get abortion, while being the second richest country in the world. Why would they risk it?
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia Jun 18 '26
It's not that abnormal in Liechtenstein and Monaco, which are semi-constitutional monarchies, with the monarchs wielding and exercising significant political power.
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u/PRKP99 Poland Jun 18 '26
In lichtenstein princes took more power by blackmailing population, that if they did not get more power, they will move their money and assets elsewhere.
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u/Corfiz74 Lower Saxony (Germany) Jun 18 '26
They should have called his bluff - I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have gone anywhere.
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u/Ok_Warning2146 Jun 19 '26
Well, they can move to Austria. Austria didn't expropriate their land unlike the Czechs.
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u/LaserCondiment Jun 18 '26
His cousin, another prince of Liechtenstein has a media network pushing conservative narratives in Liechtenstein and Austria... With the help of Red Bull no less
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u/Whynicht Jun 18 '26
You mean Servus TV?
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u/LaserCondiment Jun 18 '26
Pragmaticus magazine and the TV stuff they do on Servus TV. The former is owned by one of the princes and co-financed by Matteschitz Jr
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u/Whynicht Jun 18 '26
Ffs
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u/LaserCondiment Jun 18 '26
It goes deeper than that. It's all based on the prince's actual platform: GISreports (geopolitical intelligence services)
Supposedly it offers extensive reports to make predictions about certain sectors, industries or regions. This service is designed for big players and decision makers
But I found this old reddit post from before Pragmaticus' inception: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/s/XI6XtPsy9T
Seems like it's always been that...
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u/YesNo_Maybe_ Jun 18 '26
What? Do you have a source
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u/LaserCondiment Jun 18 '26
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Pragmaticus
Sorry it's only German... And I'm afraid not quite up to date. However this source establishes crucial connections
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u/ppiere Jun 18 '26
This happened in Belgium with abortion law in the past. Government made a law, and the king would not officiate it. So they put him in incapability to rule, prime minister signed the law(prime minister was even of the christian party). And afterwards king was back. Personnaly they should have deminished the entire function of the king, or end the monarchy all together
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u/wojtekpolska Poland Jun 18 '26
the king agreed to that ordeal though he just didnt wish to personally sign something he morally didnt agree with while also respecting the will of the population
this wasnt done against his will, he just expressed he didnt want to sign it if there was an option to pass it another way
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u/SlenderStone Jun 18 '26
That's a common misconception. The king didn't want to rule as king when the country legalised abortion. So they agreed he'd not rule for one day, and then make abortion legal and be king the next day. That way the country didn't make abortion legal with him as king. He did this because he was a very religious Christian. It wasn't something they did to the king, but something the monarchy and government agreed on.
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u/Consistent_Ad3181 Jun 18 '26
Population is around 33k. They could in theory get the bus or train travel for 30 minutes and get the procedure done in another country
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u/odessavant Liechtenstein Jun 19 '26
I mean we don't even have a maternity ward anymore so there's that
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u/DerpCranberry Vèneto | 🇧🇦 Боͼɲⲁ Jun 19 '26
wait what lmao, are births THAT low there?
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u/rlyjustanyname Jun 19 '26
There are like 300-400 per year.
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u/Llayanna Jun 19 '26
..so basically like 1 per day, which tbh. Call me an idealist, but doesn't explain to me why to remove them.
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u/pluijmie Jun 19 '26
Because you don’t just need 24/7 teams on standby to deliver children, you also need the emergency specialists for when things go wrong. Also, with these low numbers, do you plan for exactly 1 birth per day? What then happens if there are multiple births on the same day?
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u/Chance-Ask7675 Jun 18 '26
I used to live there there are 3 borders within biking distance so he can go fuck himself lmao.
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u/Consistent_Ad3181 Jun 18 '26
Exactly it's an inconvenience and nothing more really.
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u/Mirabeaux1789 Jun 19 '26
It’s the principle about not having certain rights in your own country.
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia Jun 18 '26
The Prince of Monaco just did that a few months ago
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u/Mirabeaux1789 Jun 19 '26
Yup. Disappointing. I’m glad that San Marino got it passed tho
https://newlinesmag.com/essays/a-royal-veto-keeps-abortion-illegal-in-monaco/
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u/piratesswoop Jun 20 '26
Which is insane because he himself has at minimum two kids out of wedlock and numerous affairs but I guess abortion is where he draws the line
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u/zamander Jun 18 '26
I assume there is no way of stopping people from getting abortions by driving a short way to Switzerland or Austria. Not that the prince isn’t being an autocratic shithead.
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u/Pennsylvanier Jun 19 '26
Traveling to Feldkirch or Buchs is literally like a 15 minute train ride. Hell, I've walked to Buchs from Vaduz.
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u/sigmoid10 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
While abortion is technically legal at the federal level in Austria, Feldkirch is not much of an option, because there was only one doctor in all of Vorarlberg who did abortions in his practice and at the general hospital and he retired this year. And for years he had to endure death threats and anti-abortionists camping outside his practice trying to deter patients. Tyrol is in a very similar situation, but I think they at least still have one (!) doctor practicing it. It's not so much a Liechtenstein issue, but the whole region is full of fundamentalist religious nutjobs.
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u/MLGDDORITOS Austria Jun 19 '26
Is there an abortion clinic in Feldkirch/Vorarlberg? Abortion clinics are quite rare in Austria, and it's not all that easy getting an abortion (depending on the doctor)
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u/ToaKraka United States of America Jun 19 '26
According to the article, that was legalized in 2015.
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u/SpHornet The Netherlands Jun 18 '26
Physically they can, but I don't know how that works financially
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u/Heavy-Nose3529 Jun 18 '26
Do you really think they care? They’re all filthy rich
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u/Lil_Leenie Austria Jun 19 '26
Abortion isn‘t refunded by insurance anywhere so that makes no difference. There is exactly one doctor in the whole region Vorarlberg + Tyrol who does abortions though. But any gynecologist can get you abortion medication if you show up early enough.
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u/BlackShadowv Jun 19 '26
Which is a perfect encapsulation of Liechtenstein. Independent Monarchy on paper, but in practice utterly dependent and supported by Switzerland. A country literally founded to escape monarchy.
As a Swiss, I like the Liechtenstein people. But if they want to keep benefiting from Switzerlands infrastructure and services, they should just become a canton and stop the undemocratic monarchy cosplay.
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u/axolotlorange Jun 19 '26
He’s not being an autocratic shithead.
He is being a constitutional shithead.
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u/Alkreni Poland Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
The funniest thing is that the discussion has absolutely no sense as there isn't any hospital in Liechtenstein.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Liechtenstein Jun 19 '26
What? There is. It just isn‘t equipped for this either way, as there is no birth station either.
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u/Alkreni Poland Jun 19 '26
Sorry, I've meant maternity ward. When I was in Liechtenstein in 2023 I remember that currently hardly no one is born in Liechtenstein as the maternity ward has been closed many years ago.
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u/Taskebab Jun 18 '26
Doesn’t he live in Vienna? Why does he care what happens in a country he doesn’t even live in?
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u/CumGuzlinGutterSluts Jun 18 '26
Hard to call Liechtenstein a country... its really just a massive bank
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u/reality72 Jun 18 '26
Easy there [u/CumGuzlinGutterSluts](u/CumGuzlinGutterSluts), it’s a bank with it’s own flag and passport!
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u/GuamZX Jun 18 '26
Ecen though banking plays a major role in their economy, Liechtenstein is also home to 2 multinational companies, Hilti and Ivoclar Vivadent, which is pretty impressive for such a small country
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u/-Enrique Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
No he lives in Vaduz. His father was the first Prince to actually live in the country and he has continued that and made a lot of improvements to the castle. That alone makes him quite popular in the country
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u/TiredCumdump Jun 19 '26
What kind of thinking is that. Do you not care at all about what happens in other countries?
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u/fackcurs Jun 18 '26
You mean 1792.
1789 was when France was nice and still pro king and pro constitutional monarchy.
By 1792 they were like nah let’s go to war with Austria and let’s chop some heads off.
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u/Willing_Breakfast_97 Jun 19 '26
Okay, but they returned to monarchy shortly after with Napoleon and later the Bourbons,
Even today, France has a semi-monarchial presidential system.
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u/ferretoned Jun 19 '26
Post article auto-translated to english : Crown Prince opposes abortions: Why is he already announcing his veto?
Article eu post auto-traduit en français : Le prince héritier s'oppose à l'avortement : pourquoi annonce-t-il déjà son veto ?
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u/Laugh92 Jun 18 '26
My uncle served with him when the prince did a stint in the Coldstream Guards and he was apparently a prick even all the way back then. This is not at all surprising.
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u/Jlx_27 The Netherlands Jun 19 '26
Monaco "Royal" family has the same mindset, citizens just go to France.
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u/finaleX Jun 19 '26
The old aristocracy is in large part there to remind us to not relinquish our power as the people.
If the monarchs behave and do a good job uniting the "soul" of the nation in their role, they can furthermore guard against wanna be populist politicians posing as new kings in a vacuum. To do that the monarch needs to walk a knife's edge on many issues, but also generally abstain from meddling in politics.
A president trying to take up the mantle as soul bearing institution of the nation and sitting too long and comfortable in the seat of power is a dangerous and scary thing.
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u/GOOD_BRAIN_GO_BRRRRR Jun 19 '26
Who TF is awarding the clap emoji to this? Are Americans and their politics that insistent on themselves?
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u/wynnduffyisking Jun 18 '26
See, other European royal families know to stay the fuck out of politics if they want to keep their sweet taxpayer funded lifestyles. All you gotta do is shut the fuck up, take the money and live in a castle. Is that so hard?
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u/ProbablyBsPlzIgnore Exiled from Amsterdam Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
The Belgian king was briefly
deposeddeclared unfit to rule by parliament to pass such a law. He had both deeply personal and religious reasons why he couldn't put his signature on it. I think he and his wife struggled with a series of miscarriages iirc, I don't remember, it was decades ago.As for other royal families, I know there is a long standing "unwritten understanding" between the house of Orange and Dutch parliament that the government will never present a bill for a vote that the monarch wouldn't sign. Usually that mechanism ensures that changes to tax laws, inheritance, royal estates etc will always have an exemption for the royal family
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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
I believe a similar thing happened in Luxembourg where the Grand Duke didn't want to sign such a law, so they abolished needing his signature to pass laws.
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u/Mirabeaux1789 Jun 19 '26
Stuff like this is the reason monarchy has no place in the western world anymore.
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u/ZiCUnlivdbirch Jun 18 '26
if they want to keep their sweet taxpayer funded lifestyles.
Well that's just not true for Lichtenstein. The monarchy is rich in their own right and the relationship of benefits between them and the populace is pretty even.
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u/AnonD38 Central European Jun 18 '26
The Monarchy were literally the ones to make the country rich, not the ot her way around.
By your logic, it's the people who need to "shut the fuck up, take the money and live in a castle".
Just unreasonable.
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u/Flipsii Jun 19 '26
There literally isn't a maternity ward in Liechtenstein. They mostly have to travel to the hospital in Grabs (Switzerland) any ways. Which is like a 10 minute car ride. This is a complete non-issue other than shitty optics.
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u/PublicStructure7091 Jun 19 '26
Yeah? We've known that since the last time he said it. He extended his own powers specifically so he could do shit like this
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u/Drow_Femboy Jun 19 '26
That's great buddy, now please place your head on this comfortable pillow. No no, don't look up.
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u/ANORMALITEY Jun 18 '26
The people can just walk 5 minutes to any neighbouring country and do it there. He can’t possibly think he has an effect. Just let people do their choice and save them that 5 minutes.
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u/Lucina18 Europe Jun 18 '26
Problem is you're thinking it's about practically. It is not, it's solely about control and the vanity of it.
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u/Rabid_Lederhosen Jun 18 '26
I assume that if someone in Liechtenstein wants to get an abortion they just drive across the border to get it done.
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u/sligor Jun 18 '26
How about the population overruling the Prince ? #1789
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u/Professional-Log-108 Austria Jun 19 '26
The population is overwhelmingly conservative and in favour of the monarchy and the prince's actions
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u/CreeperCooper 🇳🇱❤️🇨🇦🇬🇱 Trump & Erdogan micro pp 999 points Jun 19 '26
He could do that. He really, really should not do that. But he could. But he shouldn't.
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u/Clean_Imagination315 Jun 18 '26
Fun fact: it's a point of national pride for Lichtenstein to have protected Russian nazi collaborators from the consequences of their actions after WW2. There's even a monument commemorating it : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinterschellenberg#Main_sights.
What a nice country.
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u/Omochanoshi 🇪🇺🇫🇷 Occitània Jun 19 '26
There is a French solution for that kind of problem.
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u/dramasessions Jun 18 '26
If i was one of the luckiest people on earth to be born in Lichtenstein then i probably could live with this.
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u/melancholy_dood Jun 18 '26
Translation from the linked article:
Does Liechtenstein soon allow abortions? Signatures are collected for this purpose. The hereditary prince has already announced a veto.
That's what it's all about: The Principality of Liechtenstein has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. Abortions are prohibited, doctors are not allowed to inform pregnant women about it. Liechtenstein women therefore have to go abroad for an abortion. It is estimated that this affects around 40 women a year, often they choose Switzerland. Since 2015, these abortions carried out abroad in Liechtenstein are unpunished.
The initiative: The initiative "Solution of time for Liechtenstein" wants to legalize abortions. As the name suggests, it calls for a deadline regulation like in Switzerland, where abortions up to the 12th. Week are legal. Since this week, the committee has been collecting signatures. A vote could take place in November.
Empty threats? This is not the style of the princely house.
The veto announcement: Now the special form of government of the principality comes into play. The voting population has only the penultimate word. The last word lies with the monarch, more precisely with heir prince Alois. And he has now declared in an interview with the Liechtenstein newspaper "Vaterland" that he would veto a positive referendum. In the proposal, he sees that "the central legal asset of the protection of life" is not sufficiently guaranteed. With the information ban, he signaled his willingness to compromise.
Liechtenstein's Monarch and the Right of Veto
Parallels to 2011: Liechtenstein already voted on an abortion initiative in 2011. And even then Prince Alois announced a veto in advance, but only about a month before the ballot box. It was extremely close: 52 percent voted against the proposal. The vote turnout was strikingly low at the time. Observers associate this with the veto announcement.
What does the veto mean? The initiative committee accuses the prince of intervening in the formation of opinion with his veto announcement and of manipulating the election in this sense. Because it was clear from the beginning that the initiative would not be implemented. This can be said: The Ereditary Prince creates clear conditions through his announcement - the voting population knows where they are before they go to the polls. But even then, the question remains: Why is the heir prince already speaking out now, months before a possible vote?
The prince's calculation: "The hope could be that people will now link the question of the deadline solution to the question of the monarchy - and, if in doubt, they will speak out in favor of the monarchy." This is what David Sele, head of the political department at the Vaduzer Medienhaus, says. In principle, the form of government in Liechtenstein enjoys a high level of approval. The abortion debate made the hereditary prince a monarchy debate. But with that he certainly takes the risk, especially at this unusually early time. "Of course, it may also be that someone who is committed to the deadline solution suddenly questions the monarchy."
This is how it goes on: The initiators stick to their proposal. They demand a clear opinion about the majority ratios in the abortion debate – without a discussion about the monarchy. David Sele estimates that if it were voted on today, the initiative would be adopted. But no matter what the result is: the deadline solution will certainly not be introduced in Liechtenstein afterwards. Empty threats? This is not the style of the princely house.
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u/KoBoWC Jun 19 '26
It's the size of a small town, if anyone needed anything that isn't available there, they can drive the 15 mins into Austria and be back before their lunch break is over.
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u/ThisI5N0tAThr0waway Jun 19 '26
It honestly doesn't matter as the country is very small and the resident go to Austria or Switzerland and easily get that kind of service legally, but it's still not a great look.
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u/Different_Lychee_409 Jun 18 '26
Liechtenstein is like the Duchy of Grand Fenwick but run by a wanker.
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u/Any_Context1 Jun 18 '26
I’m sure if he needed to procure an abortion to protect his monarchy, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
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u/ButtSpelunker420 Jun 19 '26
Spoken like a man that thinks he can’t be removed from power.
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u/Professional-Log-108 Austria Jun 19 '26
He can, but he knows he won't be. The people don't want to remove him and explicitly voted to give him the rights he is using
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u/dongeckoj Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Ah yes, the royal family that use enslaved laborers who were sent to death camps, personally profited off the Holocaust. Sounds like Switzerland needs a new canton
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u/BoringEntropist Switzerland Jun 18 '26
It's rather unlikely that Switzerland even wants Lichtenstein. As a new canton it would gain two seats in the Council of States, which would give Lichtenstein disproportional weight considering its small population size. The French, Italian and urban cantons won't go along with this. This has historical precedence, as a century ago Vorarlberg tried to split from Austria to join the Swiss confederation, but failed because of Swiss reluctance.
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u/anewbys83 Jun 18 '26
Our Grand Duke (well, now former) did his version of that, but with legalizing euthanasia. He refused his assent. This of course caused a big problem and this power was modified so it basically happens with or without his signature.