Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The Swiss media are all on the same page when it comes to the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the parliamentary elections in Germany.
In fact, anger is growing among Germans living outside Germany, as there have apparently been major problems with postal voting. A problem with which the Swiss Abroad are all too familiar.
Yesterday the centre-right CDU/CSU’s victory and the far-right AfD’s unprecedented breakthrough in the German parliamentary elections were widely reported in the Swiss papers, who predict that Friedrich Merz, the likely future Chancellor, will have to overcome a series of obstacles before he can steer his ship to calmer waters.
Merz’s first task will be to form a coalition, since his party, the CDU/CSU, didn’t win enough votes to lead the country alone. But “if Merz fails in his task of forming a coalition, his dream of becoming Chancellor would still crumble just before he reaches his goal”, say the newspapers of the Tamedia press group.
According to Blick, negotiations with the centre-left SPD, and possibly also the Greens, are likely to “last a long time”. But the parties cannot afford to “take forever to form a coalition, because Europe needs a strong Germany”, writes Watson.ch.
Merz refuses to form a government with the AfD. The far-right party came second in the parliamentary elections, achieving its best ever result, with over 20% of the vote. For Le Temps, this national breakthrough reflects an insecurity rarely seen in Switzerland’s northern neighbour.
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) also considers the AfD to be the secret winner of these elections. In its commentary, the NZZ takes the view that, if the Greens are also needed to secure a stable majority, the CDU/CSU could face quite different problems at the next general election. “In the worst-case scenario, the AfD will no longer be hot on its heels, but will instead be several steps ahead,” it concludes.
Frustration reigns among the German diaspora, as their voting envelopes for yesterday’s federal election arrived too late – something many Swiss Abroad know about.
A record number of German voters living abroad had registered to vote in their country of residence. This was due to the fact that, for the first time, people wishing to vote could send their registration to their German home municipality by email rather than by post.
However, mainly in non-EU countries, voting documents arrived too late. As a result, the German diaspora had the same experience as many Swiss citizens abroad. But as these elections were early, the deadlines were also exceptionally short.
Could this “shortfall” of votes have swung the results? Sahra Wagenknecht’s left-wing alliance BSW, for example, needed only 13,400 votes to pass the 5% mark and enter the Bundestag (federal parliament). Wagenknecht is now considering filing an election appeal. Heidelberg law professor Bernd Grzeszick assumes “there will be complaints from Germans living abroad about the elections”.
As in Switzerland, Germany is now discussing the introduction of electoral constituencies, as exist in France and Italy. With an electoral constituency for Germans abroad, however, Germany would run up against a problem that Switzerland does not have: the country simply does not have an overview of its expat citizens.
Three years after the start of the Russian invasion of her country, the Ukrainian ambassador in Bern emphasises that Switzerland is and will remain an important platform for negotiations. A thousand people gathered in several Swiss cities to show their support for Ukraine.
In an interview with the German-language Tamedia newspapers, the Ukrainian ambassador to Switzerland, Iryna Venediktova, praised the Alpine nation’s support, which “helps us every day in a very difficult period”. In particular, she points to the fact that Bern is investing in the development of Ukraine’s democratic institutions, such as issues relating to energy infrastructure and justice.
Venediktova called on Switzerland to align its policy on frozen Russian assets with that of the European Union. She also called on Bern to transfer the interest on frozen Russian state funds to Ukraine.
She said she was sympathetic to the statements made by Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, who described the recent speech given by US Vice-President JD Vance in Munich as “liberal”. For Venediktova, Switzerland’s position towards Ukraine is “absolutely clear”. She is also convinced that “Switzerland will continue to support the international order and the rule of law”.
For his part, the head of the Swiss army, Thomas Süssli, declared in yesterday’s SonntagsBlick that Switzerland could make 200 soldiers available for a peacekeeping mission in the border zone between Ukraine and Russia. However, this presupposes a ceasefire, as well as the agreement of Russia and Ukraine to the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. These statements were criticised by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party.
Across Switzerland, hundreds of people took part in a rally in support of Ukraine in Geneva and Bern on Sunday. Further demonstrations are planned for Monday, the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.
When the town of Moutier joins canton Jura in 2026, more than 5,000 Bernese number plates will have to be exchanged for Jura plates. The operation will be free for vehicle owners.
Some people are gnashing their teeth, others are looking forward to it: from January 1, 2026, drivers in Moutier will have to drive with Jura number plates. But exchanging the 5,600 or so number plates will take some time. According to Karine Marti, head of the Jura Vehicle Office, “the population of Moutier will have about three months to come and exchange their plates”.
The new number plates will be allocated randomly. “For more than two years we’ve been regularly stockpiling all sorts of numbers so that we can’t identify a series of cars that are registered in Moutier rather than in another part of the canton,” Marti said.
While the number plate will remain Bernese for some time, the vehicle tax will be Jura-based from January 1, 2026. The Bernese numbers will then be put back into circulation in canton Bern.
- The RTS article (French)
Picture of the Day
Markus Ritter and Martin Pfister gave their “grand speeches” at the Centre Party’s delegates’ meeting in Visp on Saturday. The party’s main focus was on its two candidates for election to the Federal Council. Ritter and Pfister presented their arguments, which were broadly similar, on the major issues of the day. Style rather than substance seems to separate the two candidates to succeed Viola Amherd, in the election on March 12.
Translated from French by DeepL/ts
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