Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

The fallout from UBS’s shotgun marriage to Credit Suisse continues, with many people getting nervous about all the risk of the rescue being put in one basket. How justified are these concerns? Read our explainer – and other news and stories from Switzerland – below.

© Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

In the news:  It doesn’t rain, it pours: Credit Suisse and UBS are among a group of banks under investigation by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly having helped some Russian oligarchs to evade financial sanctions.

• The DOJ has requested additional information from the banks to identify the bankers and financial advisors who helped sanctioned clients, and to determine how they had been screened in the past. These employees could be subject to further investigations for any violations of the law.
• Swiss people of working age worked around 1.5 days more per year in 2019 than in 2010. The main reason for this is the number of women who have entered the labour market and who have worked longer hours.
• Pictures of one or two armoured vehicles apparently made by the Swiss manufacturer Mowag have appeared on the internet from the front in Ukraine. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which is responsible for war materiel exports, is investigating whether there have been any violations of the ban on re-exports.

Keystone / Neil Hall

Is a monster UBS bad for Switzerland? That’s the question my colleague Matthew Allen discusses days after the collapse of Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest bank and a national institution.

The dramatic takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS has concentrated all the risk of the rescue onto the shoulders of one Swiss bank. That makes some people in Switzerland very nervous.

Keystone / Sedat Suna

Citizens affected by climate change are suing the governments of more than 30 European countries in three separate cases before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that state inaction has violated their human rights.

They are the first such cases to be heard before the Court in Strasbourg, France, and could result in orders for the governments involved to cut carbon dioxide emissions much faster than currently planned.

The first case being heard on Wednesday focuses on the health impact of climate change-induced heatwaves, in a case brought by thousands of elderly Swiss women against the Swiss government as part of a six-year legal battle.

Also on Wednesday, the court will hear a case brought by Damien Carême, a member of the European Parliament for the French Green party, who is challenging France’s refusal to take more ambitious climate measures. The third case, due to be heard after the summer concerns six Portuguese youths, who are taking on 33 countries – all 27 EU member states plus Britain, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. They, too, argue those countries have violated their rights and should be ordered to take more ambitious action to address climate change. Six other climate cases are pending.

The cases will be the first time the Court considers on whether climate change policies, if they are too weak, can infringe people’s human rights enshrined in the European Convention. The Swiss women argue that by failing to cut emissions in line with a pathway that limits global warming to 1.5°C, Bern violated, among others, their right to life.

The European Court of Human Rights typically deals with cases within three years, although it could be faster since at least the Swiss case has priority status. The Swiss case asks for the court to prescribe deep emissions cuts within three years that would ensure the levels are “net negative” versus 1990 levels by 2030. A panel of 17 judges will decide on the cases and the outcomes cannot be appealed.