Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Where the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine continue to trouble Swiss politicians, energy experts, and – most importantly of all? – consumers and their wallets.

Keystone / Justin Lane

In the news: Russia reaction, gas consumption, swimming consternation.

• Switzerland joined other nations in condemning plans for referendums in four occupied areas of Ukraine. Speaking on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly in New York (photo), Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said the “sham” votes on joining Russia would “violate territorial integrity, an integral part of the UN Charter”. Cassis is set to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today in New York, where he will condemn the recent “provocations” by Moscow, including mobilising some 300,000 reservists.
• Gas consumption in Switzerland has fallen by 20% in the past two months, but winter could still be tough, said Bastian Schwark today. The head of energy at the Federal Office for National Economic Supply told the NZZ newspaper that the situation in Germany, where gas reserves are 90% full, was also promising; Switzerland gets 70% of its gas from its northern neighbour. However, whether the winter is a cold or a mild one could be crucial, Schwark said.
• After media in June raised alarm bells about abuse and mismanagement in synchronised swimming, a report has now confirmed the situation. The sport is plagued by unethical training methods, chaotic organisation, cronyism and conflicts of interest, wrote public broadcaster SRF on Tuesday. Various reforms are mooted, including banning parents and trainers of athletes from judging competitions, and improving the recruitment and training of coaches.

© Keystone / Christian Beutler

The next crisis: cost of living enters Swiss parliament.

What with galloping inflation and soaring electricity costs, European governments are busy trying to figure out how to relieve consumers. And in Switzerland, where at 3% inflation is more trotting than galloping, politicians are also concerned. A special sessionExternal link in parliament today saw a panoply of ideas: from lowering taxes on fuel (a right-wing idea) to giving a targeted energy handout (Greens) – the breadth of proposals led one disgruntled writer in the NZZ to suggest parties were simply “using the energy crisis to repackage their old issues under a new label”. Whether or not that’s the case, some help looks to be on the way: a centre-left idea to raise pensions next year and help people pay health insurance premiums scraped through a vote. The Senate will debate the issue next week.

© Keystone / Christian Beutler

Homes and happiness: don’t buy one unless you’re sure about it.

If you could afford to buy a house these days, good for you, but it might not make you as happy as you think. A studyExternal link by the University of Basel published recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies found that people – especially those driven by success, money and prestige – tended to significantly over-estimate how much happier home ownership would make them. While they did report a boost, new property owners tended to neglect the “adaptation effect” (how quickly we get used to new things), and thus weren’t as chirpy as expected once reality set in. The researchers concluded that a wrong assessment of the “happiness factor” can lead people to make bad choices, and that it’s “worthwhile to examine one’s own values, especially before making major decisions”.