According to the Swiss government, the nation has 100,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste, enough to fill the main hall of Zurich’s train station, said Roman Mayer of the Federal Energy Office in an interview with RTS. Most of this waste came from nuclear power stations. Smaller quantities were produced by medicine, industry and research. The […]
Archives for December 2017
Swiss trust in institutions remains high compared to rest of world
Earlier this month, the bank Credit Suisse published it’s annual survey, which looks at the level of trust Swiss have in government (The Federal Council, Parliament and States Council), courts (Federal Tribunal), banks, police, NGOs, public administration, internet and television, among other things. Overall 60% of Swiss trust the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive branch of […]
Vote to abolish Swiss TV tax likely to pass, according to survey
Tribune de Genève. Many are unhappy with Switzerland’s compulsory broadcasting fee and a popular vote aimed at scrapping it is scheduled for spring next year. A recent survey done by the newspapers SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche show 57% of those surveyed will vote to have the fee axed. Only 34% were in favour of […]
Poorly integrated foreigners risk losing residence permits
Last week, the Swiss government opened discussions on new rules on the integration of foreigners, part of its carrot and stick approach to improving integration and lowering the high rates of unemployment among this group. According to Le Matin, changes, adopted last December and due to come into force on 1 January 2018, are the […]
Switzerland rises in good country index in 2017
After slipping In 2016, Switzerland gained ground in Simon Anholt’s 2017 good country index, which measures how much positive impact countries have beyond their own borders. Anholt is an independent policy advisor, mainly to governments, who started the index three years ago. He describes nations that do good abroad as “good countries”, pointing out that “good” […]
Geneva bans burkinis in swimming pools
Tribune de Genève. Last week, the municipality effectively banned burkinis from the city’s pools. A new rule says women wishing to enter the pool must wear a one or two piece swim suit that leaves arms bare and goes no further than the knees. Skirts and bath robes are not allowed. Invented in Australia by […]
Poverty risk high for Swiss pensioners despite high spending
A recent OECD study, which looks at retirement, shows the relatively large amount spent on pensioners in Switzerland. Switzerland consumes 11% of its GDP on retirees, compared to 9% across OECD nations. Despite this high spending, the risk of poverty is higher in Switzerland than across the OECD. According to the organisation, 19% of those […]
Basel’s Fasnacht festival gets UNESCO cultural heritage status
All those weird masks (and the people behind them) that are so much a part of Basel’s annual Fasnacht festival have a new reason for their crazy grins. The annual 3-day festival was just added to the UNESCO list of events exhibiting the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. With this list, UNESCO “seeks to protect […]
Switzerland’s “harmful tax regime” gets it on EU grey list
This week EU Finance ministers came out with a list of countries it thinks don’t measure up to its definition of good tax behaviour. There are two categories: blacklist and so-called “grey list”. Black is bad and grey is heading toward good, but not yet there. Switzerland is on the “grey list”. To stay off […]
Ski airline to skip this season
According to the airline Powdair, Brexit and the collapse of several airline operators – Monarch, Air Berlin and Darwin – caused their key investor to get cold feet and pull out. This happened last week. Richard Corbett, a member of the european parliament says falling back on old pre-EU aviation agreements after Brexit would only […]