Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
In a country like Switzerland, where voters head to the polls several times a year on a wide range of issues, the financing of politics regularly comes under scrutiny.
That is once again the case today, as the mandate of the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) to publish party income and campaign spending ahead of votes and elections has itself been called into question by a study commissioned by the SFAO.
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In the name of transparency, as of 2022 the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) is also mandated to make the financing of politics public, providing data on party revenues and campaign expenditure in the run-up to elections and votes. According to a study by the University of Bern, however, this role could undermine the SFAO’s own credibility.
The SFAO is legally obliged to publish information submitted by parties and campaign committees, even if it may be inaccurate. It has no authority to correct or flag misleading declarations. According to the study, this weakens the office’s credibility in the eyes of the public and risks exposing it to political pressure.
“I don’t feel reassured,” SFAO director Pascal Stirnimann told Swiss public broadcaster RSI. “We commissioned this study precisely to clarify questions surrounding our independence and credibility. And the conclusion was clear: we should not be carrying out this task.”
In the long term, Stirnimann hopes transparency oversight in political financing will be assigned elsewhere.
For now, however, the SFAO continues to fulfil its mandate. On Thursday it published campaign financing figures for the March 8 votes. A total of CHF10.71 million ($13.62 million) was spent across the four ballot issues, most of it on the initiative aimed at reducing the licence fee for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Campaign spending on that proposal alone reached CHF7.5 million, including CHF5.7 million spent by opponents of the initiative. The proposal was ultimately rejected by 61.95% of voters.
The organisation of next month’s G7 summit in Évian, France, near the Swiss border, is fuelling tensions between Paris and Bern. Swiss authorities fear both security risks and financial spillover onto Swiss territory.
According to French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron outlining Swiss concerns – a move that reportedly “annoyed” the Élysée Palace.
The economics ministry declined to comment on the letter. According to the French publication, Parmelin included “everything bad he thinks” about the summit’s organisation in Évian. Swiss public broadcaster RTS writes that Swiss authorities increasingly feel their concerns are not being taken seriously by France.
Le Canard Enchaîné also claims French authorities are attributing potential unrest in Geneva on June 14 not to the G7 summit itself but to the coinciding Swiss vote on the “No to 10 million” immigration initiative launched by the Swiss People’s Party.
The newspaper further mocked France’s decision to postpone the summit by one day because June 14 coincides with US President Donald Trump’s birthday. “With the little Swiss we puff up our chests, with the big Trump we bow down,” it wrote.
A coalition of opponents handed over a petition with 14,300 signatures to Bern on Thursday demanding a halt to plans for 40 Starlink antennas in Leuk, canton Valais. The infrastructure is intended for the satellite internet network developed by Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX.
The petition, addressed to Defence Minister Martin Pfister, argues that the project would create a “dangerous geopolitical dependence” and threaten Switzerland’s data sovereignty.
Opponents also criticise the planned location in a populated area and nature park, warning that electromagnetic emissions from the antennas would exceed those from conventional mobile phone infrastructure.
The municipality of Leuk granted the building permit in November 2025. An appeal is currently being examined by the Valais cantonal government.
Switzerland’s cultural sector lost nearly 14,000 workers between 2024 and 2025, according to new figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), bringing employment levels close to those seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the end of 2025, around 282,000 people were employed in the cultural sector, compared with 296,000 a year earlier.
Men (-5.4%) and Swiss nationals (-5.4%) were more affected than women (-4.2%) and foreign nationals (-2.9%). Regional differences were also pronounced: the decline was limited in German-speaking Switzerland, more significant in French-speaking regions and particularly severe in Italian-speaking Switzerland.
People working in culture also remain less satisfied with their financial situation than the wider workforce. In 2024, 26.6% said they were dissatisfied financially, compared with 20.1% of the working population overall.
Translated using AI/amva/ts
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