An initiative entitled: zero losses, was filed this week in Geneva. It aims to ring fence current public spending in the face of future company tax reform. The initiative gathered 9,147 signatures, more than the 7,840 required. Under pressure from the OECD and the EU, Switzerland is being forced to make major changes to its tax […]
Swiss air traffic control strike cancelled
An air traffic control strike scheduled for 23 July 2018, has been cancelled, according to RTS. The air traffic control union Skycontrol and Skyguide, the company that employs air traffic controllers at airports in Geneva, Sion, Bern and Lugano, restarted talks on Tuesday with help from CRCT, the canton of Geneva’s labour relations organisation. In […]
Air traffic control strike planned in Switzerland
On Tuesday, the union Skycontrol, presented a plan for a strike in July. Skycontrol represents some workers working for the air traffic control company Skyguide, which operates at airports in Geneva, Sion, Bern, and Lugano. The strike would run from Monday 23 July until Friday 27 July 2018. A tweet from Skycontrol sets out the […]
Speed limits reduced in France
From 1 July 2018, speed limits on some French roads are lower. On 9 January 2018, France’s government decided to cut the speed limit from 90 km/h to 80 km/h on some roads. The new speed limit applies to the more than 400,000 kms of two-way roads with no dividing line. Around 11,000 speed signs […]
Pope’s visit to Geneva could create 1 million franc deficit
The Pope’s 21 June 2018 visit to Geneva is expected to cost CHF 2.2 million, according to RTS. These costs, which are spread over the rental of the venue and security, must be covered by the host diocese. Given the Vatican’s late announcement of the visit (in March 2018), local church leaders were not given […]
Geneva – school ramadan recommendations spark outcry
The canton of Geneva takes the separation of state and religion, or laïcité, seriously. Article 3 of Geneva’s constitution, states that the government and its institutions should be secular, religiously neutral, not pay clerical salaries or subsidise any religious activity, while maintaining relations with religious communities. In 2016, the canton’s public schools were sent a […]
Geneva airport advises against travel on 21 June
On 21 June 2018, the pope will be at the Palexpo convention centre next to Geneva Airport. Because of this and the security accompanying it the airport warns that “access to the airport is not guaranteed” and recommends avoiding it unless absolutely necessary. The airport says that road access and parking will be very heavily […]
Most Swiss for neutrality and against EU membership
An annual survey on security by ETH in Zurich reveals widespread support Switzerland’s neutrality. Since 2015, support for the principle of neutrality has remained constant at 95%. 85% feel neutrality is inseparable from the Swiss concept of the state and 60% think Switzerland’s armed neutrality contributes to security and stability in Europe. In addition, 94% […]
Internships – Switzerland’s Young Socialists caught preaching one thing and practicing another
In collaboration with the Swiss union Unia, Switzerland’s Young Socialists have launched a protest against the exploitation of interns. To get on the career ladder, many young people feel compelled to take internships offering little or no pay. The Young Socialists are demanding interns be better paid. Recent data from the Federal Statistical Office shows […]
Hemingway and Fitzgerald in Switzerland
Basel-based Irish writer Padraig Rooney, whose recent book The Gilded Chalet, explores Switzerland’s relationship with American, British and other expatriate authors, looks at Hemingway’s and Fitzgerald’s own encounters with the Lake Geneva region. The war was over and the French franc cheap: twenty-five to the US dollar in the mid-twenties. Ernest Hemingway first breezed into […]
