Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Here are the latest news and updates from Switzerland on Wednesday.

Keystone/Alisa Yakubovych

In the News: no clear Swiss action (yet) on Ukraine, and a study shows more poverty than might be expected in the Alpine Nation.

• The Swiss government again condemnedExternal link Russia’s recognition of breakaway Ukrainian regions Donetsk and Luhansk, calling it a “violation of international law and a breach of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”. At its meeting on Wednesday, it also added that it wanted to ensure Switzerland would not become a “platform to circumnavigate” the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU. The government is examining the European sanctions closely before making a decision.
• Nearly one in five Swiss households has to make do on a very limited budget, with single mother households most frequently affected, according to a study by the Federal Social Insurance Office. The survey of the tax data of around 4.5 million residents between 2011 and 2015 found that 15% of working-age households and 22% of retired households were affected by poverty, a definition set at around CHF38,000 ($41,390) annually.
• Swiss transport minister Simonetta Sommaruga was in Paris this week to speak with EU counterparts about the European rail network. The Swiss rail policy is a model, she said, pointing out the high level of passenger rail travel in the Alpine nation, and the policy of moving freight traffic from road to rail. Sommaruga is also in talks with her French and German colleagues about a Swiss contribution to a planned rail link between the airport of Basel/Mulhouse and the German city of Freiburg.

Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Journalistic investigation finds traces of Swiss aircraft in Afghan attacks.

Peace-loving Switzerland, which hasn’t seen war in centuries, is nevertheless a keen exporter of weapons, with record arms sales of some CHF900 million ($980 million) made by Swiss firms in 2020. And although the law bans exports to countries involved in conflict, or human rights abuses, controversial cases have emerged about weapons ending up in places like Qatar, Yemen, and even Rio’s favelas. The latest case, revealed today by a consortium of media including Swiss public broadcasters RTSExternal link and SRFExternal link, involves not guns, nor bombs, but the PC-12 “business aircraft” manufactured by the Pilatus firm in central Switzerland.

According to the report, one such PC-12, part of a sale to the US in 2013, was used by the Afghan military to guide an anti-Taliban air strike last July, during which 12 civilians were said to have been killed. The PC-12, which is supposed to be a civilian-use aircraft, acted as command centre in coordinating the attack. The journalists also reported that, now that the Taliban have taken power in Afghanistan, two PC-12s are currently in their possession – and are thus perhaps “not yet at the end of their military career”, as RTS writes. Pilatus (which last year successfully appealed a decision to freeze its activities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE) did not comment on the report.

More background: the controversial lucrative business of Swiss arms deals

© Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

Swiss viewers tuned in to watch the Winter Olympics, despite the unsocial hours.

As we wrote in Monday’s briefing, the Swiss had a good Winter Olympics this year, just missing its overall medal target in Beijing but bringing home a bumper crop of golds. Today, the NZZ and Keystone-SDA report that the Games were also a success for (German-language) public television SRF, which covered the fun extensively, with live streaming (much of it through the night), and a daily highlights show. Figures were up on the previous Winter Games in South Korea, while the most-watched event was the victory of Marco Odermatt in the men’s Giant Slalom on Sunday, February 13, when 762,000 tuned in – a market share of 85.4%.

“Beijing Today”, SRF’s daily Olympics highlights show, attracted an average of 197,000 viewers, or 13.8% of market share – not so impressive, but then again it was aired at prime time (8pm). But perhaps most impressive was the dedication of the 303,000 viewers who got out of bed to watch Beat Feuz win the men’s downhill race on Monday, February 7 – an event that started at 5am… However, although it proves once again that Switzerland is a “winter sport nation”, the NZZ writesExternal link, the numbers pale in comparison to the Beautiful Game: 1.62 million people watched Switzerland take on Brazil in the opening game of the 2018 football World Cup in Russia.