Switzerland Today

Greetings from Bern,

One of the very, very few things I really, really dislike about Switzerland is the smoking. Tourists from more enlightened countries hate it too and are shocked to find people puffing away on station platforms, at entrances to shops and restaurants, and on hotel balconies. Parliament recently rejected a blanket ban on tobacco advertising – no doubt unconnected to the fact, confirmed today, that Switzerland is a tobacco lobbyist’s paradise.

Keystone / Andy Buchanan

In the News: Swiss President Guy Parmelin has called on all countries to renew efforts to meet climate goals outlined six years ago by the Paris Agreement.

• Speaking at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Monday evening, Parmelin (pictured) said global warming had already reached critical levels. In June Swiss voters rejected a law to curb greenhouse gases. 
• The SwissCovid app and the Covid certificate app enjoy a relatively high level of trust among the public, according to a survey. More than half of respondents expressed no reservations about using the computer software for the Covid certificate. “People have realised that the app is safe, has no data protection problems and can also be useful,” the authors of the survey said today.
• Former FIFA officials Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were charged with fraud and other offences by Swiss prosecutors today after a six-year investigation into a controversial CHF2 million ($2.19 million) payment. The 85-year-old Blatter and 65-year-old Platini now face a trial within months at federal criminal court in Bellinzona.

Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Only the Dominican Republic is worse than Switzerland when it comes to links between politicians and lobbyists from tobacco giants.

The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2021External link, published today, looked at 80 countries and concluded that “Switzerland’s minimal and non-encompassing federal tobacco control laws benefit the tobacco industry greatly, allowing it to use the country as a political playground and a marketing laboratory”.

The top spot in the index went to Brunei, followed by New Zealand, the UK and France. A country analysisExternal link highlighted the main reasons for Switzerland’s embarrassingly poor ranking.

Industry participation in policy development: “Switzerland has not ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and has no formal rules against the participation of the tobacco industry in public health policy, allowing key government officials to represent tobacco industry interests in policy discussions.”

Industry CSR activities: “The Swiss government has no policies in place which prevent federal departments, or individual civil servants, from forming partnerships with the tobacco industry, or from accepting sponsorship offers.” One high-profile example of this was when Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis ended up having to dump tobacco company Philip Morris as a sponsor of the Swiss pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai after a wave of criticism and negative headlines. “Numerous other incidences have also occurred on the local level, where multinationals like Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International fund various corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the cantons of Geneva, Jura and Vaud.”

Benefits to the industry: “Currently the tobacco industry has virtually no constraint in the way it markets its products in Switzerland, making them particularly attractive to young people. This regulatory vacuum is exploited by the tobacco and nicotine industry to flood Switzerland with new products.”

Transparency: “There is no law or reliable system in place that requires the government to publicly disclose meetings, or interactions with, as well as contributions from the tobacco industry, and vice versa. Minutes of related meetings are not published either.”

The report concluded that the tobacco industry was aware of its low credibility with the public and therefore remained discreet and confidential, enlisting the help and support from other industries, particularly politicians, to maintain a low profile. “In Switzerland, [tobacco companies] have skilfully exploited the Swiss tradition of consensus democracy, using the process of political debate, and public consulting to water down or stop tobacco control measures, ensuring that the dominant and consistent role of the tobacco industry in tobacco control policies has been largely overlooked. The success of the tobacco industry in keeping debates about tobacco away from public health attests to the industry’s success, as does the rising prevalence of smoking among youth and women.”

swissinfo.ch

While young people from all over Switzerland have been taking part in “Fridays for Future” protests, dozens of start-ups are also working to develop technologies to fight climate change. Part two of our climate video series looks at how the country is going about reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.