Switzerland Today

Greetings from Bern,

Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Tuesday.

© Keystone / Christian Beutler

In the News:  The value of residential property in Switzerland continued to rise strongly in 2021 and is likely to continue to do so this year.

• The reasons for this are the pandemic-related change in housing needs, solid economic development, continuing immigration, and the supply of land becoming increasingly scarce.
• More than 13% of new car registrations last year were pure “electric cars”, according to the importers’ association Auto Schweiz. Tesla’s “Model 3” even became the first non-combustion vehicle to top the Swiss sales chartsExternal link. However, with a market share of 42%, cars with petrol engines still remain by far the first choice among local car buyers.
• Consumer prices in Switzerland increased by 0.6% on average last year, according to the Federal Statistics Office. Inflation in Switzerland remains low compared with other countries in Europe and the United States.

Keystone / Urs Flueeler

The hot topic in the Swiss media today is … the Swiss media. The head of Swiss giant Ringier has been forced to defend his company, which publishes newspapers including Blick, against accusations that it has been reporting the government’s line on the pandemic uncritically.

On February 13, voters will decide on whether the government should give the press more financial aid.

In interviews this morning with Swiss public radio, SRFExternal link, and the (non-Ringier) Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) Marc Walder (pictured) admitted that one statement on the subject was misleading. He stressed, however, that although Ringier had always supported the government’s Covid measures, reports had not been uncritical.

Walder was reacting to the publication at the weekend of a video by satirical magazine NebelspalterExternal link (the author of the piece is on the committee pushing for the financial aid vote to be rejected in February). In the recording, made almost a year ago at a business meeting, Walder said he had urged the editorial offices of the Ringier group to toe the government’s line on the pandemic. “We want to support the government through our media coverage so that we all get through the crisis well,” he said in the video.

“That was a mistake,” Walder told the NZZExternal link today. The video did not adequately reflect his position, he continued. “Of course Ringier doesn’t say what the government wants to hear. […] In a pandemic that has cost millions of lives, in a medical, economic and social crisis, the media have an overriding responsibility.”

He also pointed out that tabloid Blick had frequently criticised the government – “sometimes very harshly”. “For example, because too few masks or vaccines were available, because coordination between the federal government and the cantons didn’t work, or because the boosters came too late,” he told SRF.

“Incidentally, I personally also wrote two editorials that were very critical of the government. It’s by no means the case that Blick didn’t criticise the government. But we have always considered the topics of masks, vaccinations and boosters to be sensible. That’s what I meant.”

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Another nationwide vote on February 13 is on banning animal testing. Today we explain the main issues involved.

For the fourth time in the nation’s history, Swiss voters are being called upon to approve a ban on animal testing. They have already voted down three people’s initiatives on the topic: in 1985 (70% against), 1992 (56% against) and 1993 (72% against). The latest attempt seeks to ban all experimentation on animals and humans and stop the import of any new products developed using such testing. 

In our explainer we look at how widespread animal experimentation is in Switzerland, what the current legislation is on this, and who is arguing for and against the initiative.