Switzerland Today

Hello from St Luc,

A big question 65 days into the year (and a fortnight before the first official day of spring in the northern hemisphere): Do we have to chase happiness or does happiness find us?

Well, for the moment here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Monday.

© Keystone / Michael Buholzer

In the news: bankers’ salaries, cheese labels, video surveillance in Swiss trains and (un)popular Swiss government ministers.

• The CEO of UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, Ralph Hamers, earned CHF12.6 million ($13.5 million) last year, an increase of CHF1.1 million on 2021. The figure was published in the bank’s annual report.
• Switzerland’s national railway operator has massively increased video surveillance in trains and at stations in recent years with around 25,000 cameras in operation nationwide.
• Defence Minister Viola Amherd is the most popular member of Switzerland’s cabinet, according to a new opinion poll. Interior Minister Alain Berset only came third in the public ranking.
• A court of appeals in the United States has confirmed that the term gruyère is a common label for cheese and can’t be reserved for a type from a specific region, namely in Switzerland or France, on the US market.

Keystone-sda-ats Ag Switzerland

Neutrality and arms exports

The long-running debate about Swiss arms exports and the country’s traditional neutrality in the war in Ukraine is likely to come to a head in parliament this week.

On the table are several proposals to ease rules for the exports of Swiss war materiel to third countries so they could provide Ukraine with tanks or ammunition in the war against Russia.

Numerous experts, think tanks, political parties, politicians at home and abroad have aired their ideas for and against a partial lifting of the export ban. Is a five-year moratorium a way out or should exports be allowed if the UN found a warring side in breach of international law?

The Swiss government could come under increasing pressure if both chambers of parliament agreed on a demand for a legal amendment.

So, watch this space for the latest on whether Swiss arms could be sold without undermining a tenet of the country’s foreign policy.

Keystone / Martial Trezzini

Housing shortage and refugees

Another major topic of public debate in Switzerland is a shortage of accommodation and rising costs for rents.

Continuing its series, the Blick newspaper in its Monday edition focuses on possible political measures, including government intervention, limiting legal steps against the construction projects.

The controversy was given a new twist last week when it emerged that dozens of tenants in the town of Windisch, some 30km outside Zurich, were forced from their homes, because the owners want to house asylum seekers in the apartments before the buildings are demolished to make room for modern flats.

The issue is complicated further by a reported shortage of housing for asylum seekers and the fact that immigration is a hot potato for political parties ahead of the October parliamentary elections.