Two sets of rules produced by Switzerland’s government, one to allow the government to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and another to allow the police to go further in policing terrorism found support with a majority of Swiss voters on Sunday, 13 June 2021. 60.21% of voters supported the government’s Covid-19 laws and 56.58% supported […]
Swiss vote against further CO2 taxes
Swiss government plans to raise taxes on high emission activities, which included heating houses with oil, motoring and flying failed to find a majority across the nation in voting that took place on 13 June 2021. Overall, 51.59% of voters were against the plan, a result that has surprised many. The new taxes, which were […]
Swiss to vote on CO2 taxes. How much could it cost?
On 13 June 2021, Swiss voters will decide on whether to accept a government plan to raise taxes on certain high emission activities, which include additional taxes on heating oil, flights and petrol and diesel for road use. The aim of the revised law is to change behaviour and reduce Switzerland’s emissions. The amount that […]
Covid: new cases down 35% in Switzerland this week
This week, 2,759 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Switzerland, down 35% from the week before (4,269), continuing a steep downward trend in new numbers of recorded infections. The daily number of cases on a 7-day rolling average is now 394. By 9 June 2021 around 42% of Switzerland’s population had been vaccinated with at least one […]
Swiss parliament votes to raise retirement age for women
This week, Switzerland’s parliament voted in favour of raising the official retirement age for women. In Switzerland, the retirement age for women has long been 64, one year less than the retirement age of 65 for men, according to RTS. The parliamentary vote, of 124 versus 69 in favour, follows a vote in the upper […]
FILM: NOMADLAND **** fully deserves all of its awards
11 June 2021. “I’ll see you down the road”. That’s the credo of these people who live on the road, in vans and campers, as long as they are free to roam the land and settle momentarily where they want. They are the modern pioneers of another face of America, unknown to most of us. […]
Swiss unemployment continues to fall in May
By the end of May 2021, the percentage of Switzerland’s workforce registered as out of work had fallen to 3.1%, down from 3.3% in April 2021. The figures are based on those registered as unemployed at regional employment centres and exclude many of those that have been out of for more than two years and […]
How to get a Swiss Covid certificate
A Swiss Covid certificate is essentially an unfalsifiable QR code containing information on your Covid status, which is either vaccinated, infected and recovered or recently tested negative. The QR codes can be presented in paper (PDF) or electronic format via a mobile phone app. The most obvious use for these Covid certificates is international travel. […]
Switzerland’s Socialist Party pushes for full EU membership
After Switzerland ended negotiations with the EU on a new framework agreement, a parliamentary group of Socialist Party members is pushing for Switzerland to become a member of the EU, according to the newspaper Le Matin. The parliamentary group, which has the support of the party’s leadership, argues that full membership of the bloc is […]
Switzerland clears Covid-19 vaccine for 12 to 15 year-olds
On 4 June 2021, Swissmedic, Switzerland’s drug approval authority, announced it was extending authorisation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to 12-15 year olds. The vaccine, also known under the brand name Comirnaty®, has had temporary ordinary authorisation for use in Switzerland on people aged 16 or over since 19 December 2020. Swissmedic started looking at approving […]
