Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Situated in the heart of Europe, surrounded by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein, it is perhaps not surprising. But I must say I was surprised by some of the Swiss customs office numbers presented today.

They showed that every day 2.2 million people, 1.1 million cars and 21,100 trucks cross Swiss borders. The article below details the customs seizures, which included 1.09 tons of drugs last year.

© Etienne Delessert

In the news: women’s demo in Basel, Swiss design award, drugs seized by customs and FIFA president.

• Police in northwest Switzerland used rubber bullets to break up an unapproved demo that took place in the city of Basel on Wednesday night to mark International Women’s Day.
• Swiss illustrator Étienne Delessert has been awarded the Grand Prix Swiss Design 2023 – Switzerland’s top design award. Product designer Eleonore Peduzzi Riva and art historian Chantal Prod ‘Hom were also nominated as design award winners.
• Swiss customs officials seized significantly more illegalnarcotics last year following a high-profile discovery of cocaine hidden amid coffee beans destined for a Nestlé factory. The total haul of seized drugs amounted to 1.09 tons in 2022, which was 125 kilograms more than the previous year.
• CreditSuisse faces another embarrassment after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forced the bank to delay publication of its annual report on Thursday.
• FIFA president GianniInfantino has been clearedExternal link by Swiss prosecutors of any wrongdoing over his use of a private jet in 2017. Infantino chartered a flight from Suriname to Switzerland and prosecutor Stefan Keller called for a criminal investigation as a result, which has now been dropped.
• The EuropeanSpaceAgency (ESA) CHEOPStelescopeproject, which is jointly run from Switzerland, has been cleared to continue operations until at least 2026, provided funding can be found.

@Canton Zugo

First assisted suicide by Swiss prison inmate.

Swiss law tolerates assisted suicide when patients commit the act themselves and helpers have no vested interest in their death. It has been legal in the country since the 1940s, and assisted suicides represent around 1.5% of the 67,000 deaths recorded on average each year.

Today Swiss media reported a Swissfirst: a Swiss prisoninmate has ended his life with the help of the assistedsuicideorganisation EXIT.

According to the Wochenzeitung newspaper, an inmate of Bostadel prison in canton Zug died with the help of the assisted suicide organisation on February 28; the suicide assistance was reportedly performed away from the prison facility.

Canton Zurich’s Department of Justice confirmed to Swiss public radio, SRF, that it had given the go-ahead for the assisted suicide to take place but declined to provide any further details on the detainee.

Wochenzeitung reported that the Swiss Competence Centre for the Execution of Criminal Penalties had drawn up a document which states that internees have in principle the right to assisted suicide with the help of a third party. However, the agreement of the relevant justice authority is necessary in all cases before such a suicide can be performed.

In Switzerland, assisted suicide is considered a legitimate way to end your life. Check out our focus page which has many more articles on this issue including in-depth reportages on foreigners who have travelled to Switzerland to take their own lives with the assistance of an organisation. 

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Swiss struggle to save electricity this winter.

This winter the Swiss government set a voluntary 10% electricitysavingstarget to encourage the population to consume less energy. So, how’s it going?According to Blick.chExternal link the Swiss have been pretty reluctant to save electricity since last October. 

Federal statistics show that in February consumers used 5.3% less electricity. This is despite the fact it was slightly warmer than in previous years. Other months have revealed similar figures, apart from October, the most economical month (-7.1% less electricity used), and December (-2% less electricity).

So far, the government’s targethasnot been met a single month. At the end of February, only 1,403 gigawatt hours of power had been saved, while the target is 3,153 gigawatt hours.

Officially, the electricity supply situation is tense, but it remainsstable. Swiss dam reservoirs are still relatively full. The Federal Office for Economic Supply says that due to “too little rainfall in January and February, the river levels are currently lower and the snow cover in the mountains is significantly lower than usual.” But the availability of French nuclear power plants that provide imported electricity has improved.

For the moment the missed savings target will not have huge consequences for the general public.

But even if Switzerland gets through the current period without power shortages, the authorities are already looking ahead to next winter. 

“The energy supply situation in Switzerland and Europe remains tense and is expected to be even more demanding in the winter of 2023/24 than in the current winter,” the Federal Office of Energy says.

The government is therefore unlikely to want to relax its energy savings efforts. Indeed, it has decided to set aside an additional CHF7 million for next winter’s public energy saving campaign on top of the CHF14 million already allocated for the current cold season.