Swiss cantons have very different tax bases, tax rates and costs. To even things up rich cantons are required to help those with less money via a system set up in 2008 known as the péréquation financière nationale (French) or Nationaler Finanzausgleich (German). This week, the government decided on next year’s payments. The system relies on […]
Public worker absenteeism costs Geneva 285 million francs a year
Public worker absenteeism in Geneva costs at least CHF 285 million, according to Heidi.news, which calculated the sum based on information contained in an internal document. According to the news service the cost of absenteeism, which continues to rise, is equivalent to 11% of the 2.54 billion spent public sector workers’ salaries in 2019 and […]
One third of Swiss prone to believing conspiracy theories
One third of Swiss are prone to believing in conspiracy theories, according to a study run in 2019 by researchers at ETH University in Zurich. Researchers at ETH Zurich’s department of delinquency and crime prevention questioned around 10,500 people (2,111 adults and 8,317 young people) in 2019 regarding their beliefs. Survey takers were asked questions, […]
Terror attack in Vienna linked to Winterthur
Following the terrorist attack in Vienna this week, Swiss and Austrian authorities have been in contact following the arrest of two Swiss in Winterthur, a hotbed of radicalisation in Switzerland, according to RTS. Intelligence services, police and judicial authorities from both nations have been working together to look at the case. The An’ Nur mosque […]
Swiss government rejects call to abolish the crime of blasphemy
Last week, Switzerland’s parliament rejected by 115 votes to 48 a proposal to abolish the crime of blasphemy in Switzerland. Beat Flach proposed the motion, arguing that defining blasphemy as a crime places limits on free speech. We should not punish people for criticising religion, believes Flach. Instead he thinks Switzerland should send a strong […]
Covid sceptics taking up more and more Swiss police time
Some Covid sceptics and those energetically opposed to measures to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are consuming an increasing amount of police time, in particular the time of staff at Switzerland’s Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), reported RTS. The rising propensity for violence associated with Covid sceptics is taking up a lot of […]
New Swiss initiative to further restrict construction
Land use is strictly governed in Switzerland. However, a new initiative, which aims to increase construction restrictions further, recently gathered enough signatures to qualify for a a popular vote. The initiative, dubbed the countryside initiative, was officially registered after gathering 104,487 valid signatures, more than the 100,000 that must be collected within 100 days to […]
Swiss clocks go back one hour on Sunday
2020 will be extended by one hour this weekend. Early on Sunday 25 October 2020 Swiss clocks go back one hour. Officially, time shifts at 3am. This means you can spend an extra hour in bed and it will be lighter when you get up. On the down side, it will get darker one hour […]
38% of Swiss population has a migrant background
At the end of 2019, nearly 38% of permanent residents in Switzerland over the age of 15 had a migrant background, according to recently published data. Those with a migrant background fell into one of two categories: first or second generation migrants. First generation migrants, which made up 31% of the population, were either foreign […]
Swiss economy to slide less than feared, according to new forecast
An updated forecast published this week by the Switzerland’s federal government is less negative than forecasters feared in the middle of the year. The new forecast expects Swiss GDP adjusted for sporting events to fall by 3.8% in 2020 and unemployment to average 3.2% across the year. The forecast in June 2020, predicted a 6.2% […]
