Switzerland Today

Greetings from Bern!

Why don’t young people want to become air traffic controllers? Is it racist if a white reggae band is forced to cut short a concert after complaints from the audience? Read about these and other issues currently being discussed in Switzerland.

© Keystone / Martial Trezzini

In the news:  Swiss air navigation service provider Skyguide says it is struggling to recruit air traffic controllers, especially in French-speaking Switzerland. Only five people are starting training in September, although there are 16 posts to be filled.

• To make the job more attractive, Skyguide, which is celebrating 100 years of air traffic control in Switzerland this year, has doubled wages for first-year trainees from CHF2,000 ($2,100) to CHF4,000 a month.
• The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has reported a loss of CHF95.2 billion ($100 billion) for the first half of this year. While the foreign currency positions lost CHF97.4 billion, the gold holdings showed a valuation gain of CHF2.4 billion. On the Swiss franc positions the SNB achieved a small gain of CHF35.1 million.
• EU countries have approved a plan to jointly reduce their gas consumption by 15% between August 2022 and March 2023. Although this decision doesn’t commit non-EU Switzerland, all Swiss imports of natural gas pass through the EU. “The European Commission has asked all member countries to make plans to reach the 15% target, and I am convinced that Switzerland must align itself with the European measures,” Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said yesterday. She added that the government was already preparing such a plan.

Zvg

There’s been an unexpected development to the news in Wednesday’s “Switzerland Today” that a white reggae band had cut short a concert in Bern because some people in the audience didn’t feel comfortable and complained.

Now the youth chapter of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party has complained of racism against white people and has filed a criminal charge against the restaurant where the gig was held for violation of the anti-racism penal code.

If you need a refresher on what all the fuss is about, read this analysis we published today, which also looks into the history of cultural appropriation.

Is this indeed a case of cancel culture, when people perceived as “woke” – or sensitive to social injustice – are accused of cancelling, or not giving a platform to, people perceived as unwoke? As reported in BlickExternal link, David Trachsel, president of the Young Swiss People’s Party, clearly thinks the band, Lauwarm, were victims of cancel culture (although it was the band’s decision to stop playing).

“What happened at Brasserie Lorraine is racism,” Trachsel tweetedExternal link yesterday. “The Young Swiss People’s Party is therefore filing a complaint under the anti-racism penal code. Let the woke circles get a taste of their own laws.”

Watch this space.

Keystone / Melanie Duchene

In just under two months the Swiss go to the polls to vote on three issues at a federal level: intensive livestock farming, tax breaks for business, and women’s retirement age. Today we present a clear guide to all three.

Will the Swiss ban intensive livestock farming on September 25? The government and parliament consider farm animals to be adequately protected under current legislation and are calling on voters to reject the initiative.

Is there a need to lighten the tax burden on Swiss companies and their investors? The political right wants to make it easier for companies to raise funds, while the left is denouncing a boon for multinationals.   

Last but not least, voters will have their say on reform of the old age security system, after two previous proposals were rejected in 2004 and 2017. Raising the retirement age for women remains a stumbling block.