Initiative: In favour of public services Despite being majority owned by the state, Swisscom, Swiss Rail, and Swiss Post are all profit-driven: the Swiss government owns 51 percent of Swisscom and 100 percent of Switzerland’s rail and post businesses. For backers of the initiative, seeking profit stands in the way of these enterprises providing good levels […]
Are Swiss drivers being unfairly milked by the government?
Initiative: In favour of fair traffic financing Currently, not all of Switzerland’s fuel tax is allocated to improving and expanding Switzerland’s infrastructure, some of it flows into the overall Federal budget. Restricting fuel taxes to the road The Swiss People’s party (UDC/SVP) along with representatives from a broad selection of parties and interest groups, want all tax gained […]
Swiss vote on designer baby controversy
The Swiss Evangelical People’s Party (EVP/PEV) has launched an initiative to counter the law on reproductive medicine, which allows all embryos fertilised outside the uterus (in-vitro) to be genetically tested. Under the law, the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) on foetuses in-vitro is possible for carriers of genetically inherited disorders and for patients undergoing regular fertility treatment […]
Free legal advice for asylum seekers. Naive or sensible?
With amendments to asylum law, the Swiss government aims to speed up the asylum process, cut costs and ensure a fairer process for asylum seekers. Current asylum claims can last up to 400 days. The revision sets to cap this at a maximum of 100 days and 140 days in exceptional cases. During this period, asylum […]
Should Swiss families get CHF 75,000 a year to do nothing?
A mixed group of intellectuals, artists and activists are behind the initiative to give an unconditional basic income to every Swiss resident, regardless of whether they work. Supporters say monthly payments of CHF 2,500 CHF for each adult and CHF 625 per child, would enable us to cover our basic living costs and allow us to live […]
Helping a few at the expense of many – Swiss vote against penalising marriage
The Christian Democratic People’s party (PDC) is the party behind the initiative: “In Favour of Marriage and Family – Against the Marriage Penalty”, which will be voted on this Sunday 28th February. The initiative’s negative overtones towards same-sex couples, as well as its shortcomings, make it hard to support. However, it might help to ignite […]
The referendum that could force commodity traders to leave Switzerland
Farmers worldwide pre-settle food prices with buyers to avoid the risk of being saddled with their harvest with no one to sell it to. This should remain the case, according to the JUSO (Young Swiss Socialists) party. However, with their initiative: ‘Ban on Food Speculation’, the party aims to ban institutional investors from trading in […]
Fewer migrants expected in Switzerland in second half of 2015
More refugees are arriving at Switzerland’s Eastern borders daily, yet Switzerland is not the primary destination for refugees travelling via the Balkans. According to the State Secretariat for Migration, the number of people seeking Swiss asylum is even expected to drop in the second half of the year. The State Secretariat for Migration projects that […]
