Switzerland Today

This content was published on May 31, 2024 - 18:00

2 minutes

Swissinfo.ch's India specialist covers a wide range of issues from bilateral relations to Bollywood. He also knows a thing or two about Swiss watchmaking and is partial to the French-speaking part of Switzerland. 

Dear Swiss Abroad,

it is quite a difficult feat for a complete outsider to be accepted as Swiss. Unless you are a world-class athlete with potential to bring home medals and glory.

The talented and tough South Sudanese runner Dominic Lobalu is one such remarkable case.

In the news: Pricey medicines, jets on the highway, Eurovision update and Chinese reluctance.

The price difference for medicines between Switzerland and other countries has further increasedExternal link. People in comparable European countries now pay 14.3% less for off-patent original preparations. A year ago, the price difference was only 10.8%.

For a short period, there will be no speed limit on A1 motorway between Avenches and Payerne south of Lake Neuchâtel. The highway will be closed for a maximum of 36 hours to allow eight fighter jets to use it as a runwayExternal link in a training exercise.

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation – SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company – has sent out detailed application dossiers to cities interested in hosting the Eurovision contest in 2025External link. It is very hush hush so far, with the list of competing cities and catalogue of requirements for hosts not made public yet. Only Geneva has revealed its cards.

China has expressed scepticism about participatingExternal link in the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland. Switzerland is organising the meeting on June 15 and 16 at Bürgenstock (Canton Nidwalden) at the request of Ukraine. As Beijing is considered one of Moscow’s most important partners, a decision not to participate would be seen as a serious setback.

Fast track route to become Swiss

Can you be considered Swiss without Swiss citizenship? Yes, if you are world class runner Dominic Lobalu. I had the pleasure of witnessing his smooth and efficient stride recently in the Grand Prix race in Bern that he won comfortably.

On Thursday evening in Oslo, Lobalu broke the Swiss 5,000m record set by Markus Ryffel in 1984 that won him silver at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The South Sudanese refugee has been living in eastern Switzerland since 2019. In 2023, Swiss Athletics made a request to the World Athletics body to allow Lobalu to represent the country even though he did not have Swiss citizenship. According to the law of the land, he can only apply for naturalisation in 2031.

World Athletics decided to overlook this obstacle and allowed Lobalu to compete for Switzerland from May 10. A Swiss athlete without a Swiss passport!