Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Today's briefing is all about technology. New techniques have helped investigators in Geneva find an alleged perpetrator 29 years after a murder.
 
Meanwhile, the technology behind the F-35 fighter jets ordered by the Swiss government is coming under fire. Critics say the American jets will soon be out of date and will be replaced by drones.
 
We then take a brief trip to the Swiss Alps, where ski resorts are opening up again. In many places, this is only possible thanks to artificial snow.
 
Best wishes from Bern,

Keystone-SDA

An unresolved murder case: the alleged perpetrator is on trial 29 years after the shooting of an Egyptian diplomat in Geneva.

In 1995, the Egyptian diplomat Alaa al-Din Nazmi was shot dead in an underground car park in Geneva. The trial of the alleged perpetrator begins today at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, canton Ticino. The defendant is accused of committing the murder in return for an unknown sum of money.

For decades, it was impossible to establish who had murdered the diplomat. But new techniques helped solve the case: DNA traces and fingerprints on the homemade silencer led to an Italian-Ivorian dual national.

It is unclear who ordered the murder, however; the indictment says nothing about the people behind it nor the possible motive. As reported by Swiss public television, RTS, Nazmi is also said to have worked for the Egyptian secret service and managed accounts of the then President Hosni Mubarak in Switzerland. Swiss public radio, SRF, says that Islamists could be behind the murder.

The investigation was launched at the time by Carla del Ponte, the Swiss attorney general. There is not much time left to solve the murder: the case will expire next year.

• RTS articleExternal link (in French).
• SRF articleExternal link (in German).
• RSI articleExternal link (in Italian).

Keystone / Peter Schneider

“We have to build a lot in the future!” Transport Minister Albert Rösti (in photo above) analyses the recent no vote to his motorway expansion plan and looks to the future.

On November 24, Swiss voters rejected a government proposal to expand the Swiss motorway network. In an interview with Transport Minister Albert Rösti, the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper called the defeat “a debacle at the ballot box”.

Up to now, Rösti has enjoyed success in nationwide votes, but the motorway no vote hurts, he admits. This is because the consequences are clear, said the minister. “The continuous expansion of the A1 motorway is currently off the table,” says Rösti. However, unlike some of his party colleagues, he does not want to blame the result on voters’ concerns over immigration. He has a different explanation: he feels the world has become a little more self-centred, he says.

Rösti vehemently rejects the idea put forward by NZZ that “the country can’t do any more big things”. There are still many other major infrastructure projects to come, he says, such as more power lines, new power plants and more capacity for the railways and roads. “We have to build a lot in the future,” says Rösti.

• Interview in NZZ am SonntagExternal link (In German/subscription)

Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Will drones soon replace fighter jets? The defence ministry maintains its order of F-35 jets. Meanwhile, the Federal Council will receive a new aircraft worth over CHF100 million.

Albert Rösti’s cabinet colleague Viola Amherd also made news on Sunday. It followed Elon Musk’s vilification of the F-35 fighter jet, which he says are obsolete in the “age of drones”. A professor from the federal technology institute ETH Zurich agrees with Musk, saying drones will shoot down fighter jets in the future.

However, the defence ministry is sticking with its order of F-35s. For Amherd’s department, drones complement manned fighter jets. However, pilots are particularly important in securing Swiss airspace, as drones fly at lower altitudes and are slower than civilian passenger aircraft.

The first new fighter jets will be delivered from 2027. But the Federal Council can already look forward to its new passenger jet: a brand-new Bombardier Global 7500 with up to twenty seats.

Announced some time ago, the aircraft will now be delivered in December. The price tag of over CHF100 million has sparked anger among many politicians, though.

While the Federal Council undoubtedly needs a new aircraft, parliamentarians from left to right are asking whether they could have bought a cheaper plane. The issue is especially sensitive as it will arrive when parliamentarians in Bern are debating government austerity plans.

• Article in External linkTages-AnzeigerExternal link (in German/subscription).
• Article in Le Matin DimancheExternal link (in German/subscription).
• 20minutesExternal link (in French).

Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

Skiing is becoming increasingly expensive in Switzerland: the average price of a day ticket on the slopes has risen to CHF72 ($81).

Last weekend was my first trip to the slopes this season to go snowboarding. The price of a half-day ticket in Davos made me hesitate though: CHF61 – and that was a pre-season price.

In 2005, I could have spent the whole day on the slopes for that price. Back then a day ticket in Switzerland averaged CHF51. Today, you must fork out an average of CHF72 for a day ticket, as reported by Swiss public television, RTS.

The prices of lift passes are up in many resorts. For example, in Anzère in canton Valais they have risen by 38%, in nearby Zermatt by 19% and in Crans-Montana by 43%.

The ski resorts cite greater operating costs, such as higher wages, increased prices for electricity and diesel, and the need for extensive investment in infrastructure as reasons for the ever-rising prices for skiing in Switzerland. Despite – or perhaps because of – ever decreasing snowfall, Switzerland is still investing heavily in ski resorts, for example in artificial snow-making facilities.

RTS articleExternal link (in French).

Keystone / Manuel Geisser

Switzerland in pictures

Shoppers on Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich. Switzerland’s biggest city was open for Christmas shopping on Sunday, the first one of Advent.