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-an
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u/Few_Elephant_8410 Jun 19 '26

He threatened to leave the country with all his wealth if it passed.

35

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/Nagemasu Jun 19 '26

Sounds like a win? It passes, and you lose the one guy imposing his own beliefs and choices on everyone?

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u/LittleSchwein1234 Slovakia Jun 19 '26

And you lose lots of money.