Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Switzerland’s job market is extremely dynamic. No other European country creates as many jobs right now, according to the recruitment agency ManpowerExternal link. Over half of companies in Switzerland plan to increase their workforce in the third quarter.

At the same time a separate nationwide survey published today showed employees are increasingly dissatisfied with their work situation. The Gallup poll found that there is also often a lack of emotional attachment to their employer, but only a few want to change jobs.

Read on for more news and stories from Switzerland.

Keystone / Christian Beutler

In the news: single health insurance fund, deepfake voices, Art Basel and sexual abuse in Catholic Church.

• In a survey, two-thirds of Swiss support abolishing health insurance companies in favour of a single health insurance fund. It comes after the June 9 votes that saw two health initiatives rejected by voters.
• Swiss People’s Party parliamentarians Thomas Aeschi and Michael Graber were involved in a scuffleExternal link with federal police inside the parliament building in Bern. It was reported that the two men refused to respect a security cordon set up for a visit by the president of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefantschuk.
• The brain reacts differently to artificially imitated voices than to real ones. This happens even if people do not recognise the so-called deepfake voices as fake, according to a study by the University of Zurich in the journal Communications Biology.
• Galleries have already reported numerous sales in the millions on the first day of Art Basel. The artist Louise Bourgeois remained the bestseller. The declared top seller was a sunflower painting by Joan Mitchell, which sold for $20 million (CHF18 million).
• The hearings of victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were inappropriate in many cases in the diocese of Sion. This is the conclusion of an external and independent audit of the diocese’s handling of abuse.
• Swiss national sports teams should be allowed to legally wear the Swiss coat of arms on their shirts in future. The Senate has adopted a motion to amend the Coat of Arms Protection Law accordingly.

Members of the Klimaseniorinnen climate group pose for a protest photo aimed at Swiss parliamentarians, June 4, 2024. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Swiss parliament snubs European court climate ruling.

After the Senate, the Swiss House of Representatives has criticised the climate ruling of the European Court of Human Rights.

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to reject a ruling ordering Switzerland to do more to combat global warming. In April, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg issued an landmark judgement that said Bern had violated the human rights of a group of older Swiss women, the KlimaSeniorinnen, by failing to tackle climate change.

The non-binding motion passed by Switzerland’s lower house of parliament today said there was no reason to take further action because Switzerland was already doing enough. Parliamentarians criticised the court’s “interference” in Swiss democracy.

“It’s really disgraceful what just happened,” Stefanie Brander, 68, told the Reuters news agency after the vote. “It’s an insult and a lack of respect of our rights which were confirmed by an international court.”

Switzerland is legally obliged to implement the ruling under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights it ratified in 1974. However, it is not unusual for countries to drag their feet.

In this specific case, the Federal Council must tell the Council of Europe, to which the court belongs, by October how it will implement the decision.

Meanwhile, over half of Swiss residents (56%) believeExternal link the Swiss authorities should not carry out any particular measures to implement the recent European Court of Human Rights climate decision against Switzerland, a Tamedia poll shows.

Members of the Swiss squad warm up during a training session at the “Stadion auf der Waldau” in Stuttgart, Germany, on June 12, 2024. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Switzerland complains to UEFA about Euro2024 pitch quality.

The Swiss football federation has formally complained about the quality of the playing surface at its training camp in Germany for the European Championship, according to UEFA.

The Swiss squad first trained on Monday at the home stadium of lower-tier club Stuttgarter Kickers on a fresh field laid ahead of the tournament that starts on Friday.

Switzerland first plays Hungary on Saturday in Cologne in Group A, which also includes host Germany and Scotland.

The Swiss federation said it wrote to UEFA to express its view that the surface was not up to standard but would still use the field on the outskirts of Stuttgart.