Switzerland today

Greetings from Bern,

how would you like to live near a ticking time bomb? Around 50 villagers in the Bernese Alps are desperate to relocate away from a Second World War munitions dump. Money has been set aside to help them leave by 2025 but parliamentary approval is taking longer than expected. 

© Keystone / Michael Buholzer

In the news: Postal woes, fake Covid tests, drug shortages and cross-border workers

• Swiss Post must save CHF100 millionExternal link ($107.5 million) by the end of the year. The company made a consolidated profit of CHF295 million, a drop of CHF157 million compared with 2021. The economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, the downturn in interest rates and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic are responsible for this decline. 
• Following suspicions of fraudExternal link involving “phantom” Covid-19 tests, the Federal Office of Public Health ordered the reimbursement of CHF 1.6 million for “wrongly issued” invoices. In another case, it initiated criminal proceedings. In 2020 and 2021, the government paid out Covid test costs of CHF 2.7 billion of which it is estimated that fake tests added up to around CHF20 million.
• Switzerland is running short of around 1,000 medications. According to chief pharmacist Enea Martinelli, the reasons include shortages of active substances, qualified personnel and equipment but also increased dependence on foreign drug manufacturers. My colleague Jessica Davis-Plüss digs deeper to find out why Swiss pharma is failing to rise to the challenge. 
• A motion has been filedExternal link in Geneva’s cantonal parliament to restrict job hires in public institutions to Swiss citizens and residents. The move is targeted against French workers who hop the border daily to work in Geneva. 

Keystone / Peter Schneider

The wait continues: Mitholz village and the Second World War munitions dump

The resettlement of villagers living near a former weapons stockpile has been interrupted External linkdue to lack of funds to purchase their homes. While the government approved CHF2.59 billion ($2.74 billion) for the purpose, the defence ministry says the tranche of CHF50 million for the current year has been blocked.

The decision to clear the former weapons stockpile in Mitholz village in central Switzerland was made in 2020, after experts found that the 3,500 tonnes of ammunition and explosives stored in the underground site posed a bigger danger than previously assumed.

Around 50 people living close to the area will have to leave their homes by 2025 and have to be compensated. Three years ago, SWI swissinfo.ch visited them to find out what challenges they face.