This week, Zurich City’s executive tore up an agreement between opposing political camps on parking, according to RTS. The agreement, known as the “Parkplatzkompromiss” which came into force in 1996, was a simple agreement to maintain the status quo. No new parking would be added and no existing parking would be taken away. Now, with […]
More than 100 members of Extinction Rebellion convicted in Switzerland
In September 2019, groups of people belonging to the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion blocked two road bridges in Lausanne. Local police cleared the bridges by removing, in some cases carrying, protesters away. On 7 November 2019, 117 of the people involved in the bridge protests were convicted and fined for breaking Switzerland’s penal code, […]
Worried about flying? Geneva Airport’s CEO is listening
By Scott Poynton With the world finally waking up to the reality of climate change, flying is increasingly coming in for a bad rap. Planes put a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. Greta Thunberg chose to sail across the Atlantic last month to attend the New York climate bash because she wanted to avoid […]
Geneva to ban Uber if it doesn’t change its operating model
After a legal analyis the government of the canton of Geneva has decided that drivers of the ride hailing service are employees rather than independent contractors, effectively banning Uber from operating under its current model. In an interview with RTS, Mauro Poggia, a lawyer and Geneva state councillor, said that Uber is a transport company […]
Negative rates might go lower, says Swiss National Bank chairman
Thomas Jordan, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper recently that central bank interest rates might need to go further into negative territory. Responding to growing criticism of negative central bank interest rates, Jordan said negative interest rates could continue and a further reduction is possible. Could Swiss banks […]
Swiss commission supports new laws to protect whistleblowers
A commission of the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, is in favour of new rules to protect whistleblowers. The proposed rules, which would help to protect those who expose secretive information or activity that is deemed illegal or unethical, were supported by 6 commission votes to 2 with 4 abstentions. The proposal, which would […]
Swiss parliamentary commission supports fuel tax hike
The parliamentary environmental commission has endorsed a plan to increase the taxes on fuel in Switzerland. Following support for a fuel tax increase by the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, the commission said it supports a rise of 10 cents a litre until 2024 and 12 cents a litre from 2025. These increases are […]
Swiss government cuts drug prices by 100 million francs
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) recently announced it had reduced the price Swiss healthcare providers and patients will pay for 257 drugs by 16.3%. These lower prices, which take affect on 1 December 2019, are expected to save CHF 100 million annually. The FOPH looked at the prices of 478 drugs and achieved […]
Minimum Swiss internet speed to triple in 2020
The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, has confirmed a decision made by parliament to raise the minimum speed of broadband internet connections in Switzerland. From 1 January 2020, the minimum download speed specified in Switzerland’s universal service agreement with Swisscom will rise from 3 to 10 megabits per second (Mbits/s) and the minimum upload speed will […]
Switzerland ranked 2nd best place to be a woman
With an overall score of 0.893 Switzerland was beaten only by Norway (0.904) in the 2019 Women, Peace, and Security Index, which ranks 167 countries on women’s equality and well being. The top ten countries were all in Europe while the worst ten were spread across central Asia, the middle east and Africa. The index […]
