Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss abroad,

Thinking of moving back to Switzerland? It can be pricey, especially accommodation. A new survey reveals the most expensive municipality to live. Any guesses? German-speaking regions came out top: number one was Kilchberg in canton Zurich, followed by neighbours on the opposite side of the lake, Zollikon, Erlenbach and Küsnacht.

An average single-family house in Kilchberg (5.5 rooms or 140m2) now costs over CHF3 million. 

Read about other news and stories from Switzerland below.

© Keystone / Anthony Anex

In the news: French-speaking world, space policy, Credit Suisse bailout and parliament, and Glencore.

• Switzerland wants to further develop its cooperation with the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) and the French-speaking world, in particular by supporting electoral processes and international digital governance. Swiss President Alain Berset made the pledge during a meetingExternal link in Fribourg on Tuesday with OIF Secretary General Louise Mushikiwabo (in photo above).
• Space is the place. The government has signed off on the Federal Space Policy 2023External link. It wants to safeguard the Swiss space research sector while promoting a “sustainable and responsible” usage of the universe.
• The Swiss government has repeated its position that the recent parliamentary rejection of state bailout credit for the UBS-Credit Suisse takeover deal has “no legal effect”.
• Commodity giant Glencore, which is based in canton Zug, faces growing pressure to clarify how it will manage its climate change commitments after investors holding more than $500 billion (CHF450 billion) in assets backed a shareholder resolution to be voted on next month.
• Visa requirement lifted: from January 1, 2024, citizens of Kosovo will be able to travelExternal link to the European Union and Schengen countries (which includes Switzerland) without a visa for short stays (twice a year for 90 days).
• Swiss private bank Reyl has been fined €5.75 million (CHF5.7 million) in France, after it admitted facilitating tax evasion between 2009-2013.

© Keystone / Michael Buholzer

T. rex skeleton goes under the hammer in Zurich.

The skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex called “Trinity” was sold for over CHF4.8 million ($5.4 million) on Tuesday night in a Zurich auction to an anonymous private buyer. It is the first time a T. rex skeleton has been auctioned in Europe.

This was slightly belowExternal link the expected price of CHF5 million-CHF8 million for the 293 bones, assembled and erected into a growling 11.6-metre-long and 3.9-metre-high posture. The composite T. rex comes from three sites in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations of US states Montana and Wyoming. The skeleton is around 67 million years old.

More than half of the restored fossil is “original bone material”, and Koller says the skull is particularly rare and was remarkably well-preserved.

The sale of the T-Rex in Zurich auction has grabbed the headlines, but such rare pieces are a bone of contention for some researchers who bemoan the fact that important archaeological material may never see the light of day. “These specimens form part of our collective natural palaeoheritage, a shared heritage focused primarily on fossil data,” declared Lara Sciscio, researcher at the Swiss museum JURASSICA, in a recent Op-ed.

“Disregarding for a moment the ethical ramifications, the sale of fossils can lead to diminishing scientific or educational value of important specimens if they are not publicly displayed or studied after private sale. It can also lead to fossil looting, fossil modification, forgeries or collection solely for financial gains by unscrupulous or naïve fossil collectors.

© Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

Swiss Post presents new e-voting system.

Swiss Post today presentedExternal link a test platform for its e-voting system which will be used for a pilot test for the upcoming June 18 votes in cantons Basel City, St Gallen and Thurgau.

In St Gallen, Swiss abroad and five local communities will take part in the pilot. In Thurgau only the Swiss abroad will try out the new platform. In canton Basel City, the Swiss abroad and people with disabilities will be entitled to use the system. 

In all, an estimated 65,000 voters should be allowed to vote in the first ballot on June 18 using the new e-voting system. 

The Federal Council gave the three cantons a basic licence to use Swiss Post’s e-voting system at the start of March 2023. Cantonal governments have also approved the system. Canton Graubünden is expected to test it from 2024.

© Keystone / Michael Buholzer

US senators criticise Credit Suisse over Nazi-linked accounts probe.

A committee of US senators on Tuesday said Credit Suisse deliberately hampered an investigation into Nazi assets last year that claimed the bank had serviced “scores” of undisclosed accounts. Credit Suisse has defended its internal review.

Credit Suisse commissioned a probe in 2020 into allegations by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) human rights organisation that the bank held potential Nazi-linked accounts and failed to disclose them, even during Holocaust-related probes decades earlier.

A confidential report by the bank’s own former ombudsman, subpoenaed and releasedExternal link by the US Senate Budget committee, said that despite public assurances, Credit Suisse in effect decided in June last year to “walk away from its commitment” to thoroughly investigate its former Nazi clients.

But the multi-year investigation commissioned by Credit Suisse was “hampered by restrictions” and the bank “inexplicably terminated” an independent reviewer overseeing it, the committee said.

Credit Suisse defendedExternal link its internal review, saying the probe turned up no evidence to support key claims from the SWC that dormant accounts serviced by Credit Suisse held assets from Holocaust victims. Credit Suisse added that the research confirmed the conclusions reached by the Bergier Commission that investigated and settled matters pertaining to Swiss banks’ links to Nazi Germany in the late 1990s.

But the Senate committee said more work needs to be done to track down the value of assets of certain accounts held by Nazis at the bank in the post-1945 period. The committee said in a statement it had opened its own investigation after receiving “credible allegations of potential wrongdoing” related to the internal probe.