Health-insurance premiums and immigration remain the two biggest political concerns for Swiss voters, though both are less prevalent than last year, according to the latest SSR electoral barometer. Relations with the European Union, housing shortages and the economy have gained ground. Health costs top the list of challenges, cited by 40% of respondents. Immigration follows […]
Swiss People’s Party registers vote to tighten asylum rules
Switzerland’s right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) has filed a new initiative “To protect borders”. The proposal, backed by 110,000 signatures, demands systematic checks at Swiss frontiers and tighter asylum rules, reported RTS. Anyone entering Switzerland would face controls. If such checks conflict with international treaties, the Federal Council would be required to renegotiate them—or, failing […]
Switzerland unable to defend itself against all threats, according to defence minister
Switzerland’s army cannot defend the country against every conceivable threat, admits Martin Pfister, the defence minister. Visiting Geneva on 18 September 2025 for anniversaries at three Swiss-backed security institutes, he told RTS television that the military remained a work in progress: The army is capable of defending Switzerland, but not against all threats one can […]
Swiss government sets out ambitious spending cuts
Switzerland’s federal government must save CHF 2.4 billion in 2027 and CHF 3 billion in both 2028 and 2029. On Friday the Federal Council sent its austerity plan to parliament, reported RTS. The Council of States will debate it in the winter session; the National Council will follow in the spring. The country’s public finances […]
Swiss opposed to blanket 30 km/h zones in urban areas
Most Swiss are not keen on blanket 30km/h limits in urban areas. A new poll by YouGov, commissioned by the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS), finds that nearly two-thirds of respondents oppose extending the lower limit to all urban roads. Three-quarters favour the current mixed regime: 50km/h as the rule, with 30km/h zones applied case by […]
VAT not salary tax to fund higher pensions
This week, Switzerland’s lower house has narrowly backed a temporary VAT rise to finance the country’s new 13th month of state pension, reported SRF. Wage contributions are off the table and the National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, agreed only to lift VAT by 0.7 percentage points until the end of 2030. That vote puts an end […]
Switzerland to make it easier to adopt stepchildren
Switzerland’s government wants to make it simpler for step-parents to adopt. Under a draft law approved by the Federal Council, couples who have raised a child together since birth would no longer need to undergo a one-year foster-care period before adoption. The reform, which amends the Civil Code, stems from the introduction of “marriage for […]
Swiss upper house says no to daycare initiative
Switzerland’s Council of States has rejected a popular initiative on subsidised childcare but endorsed a watered-down alternative, reported SRF. The initiative, backed by the Social Democrats, Greens, Centre Party, Green Liberals and trade unions, would entitle every child from the age of three months until the end of primary school to supplementary childcare. Parents’ contributions […]
Zurich to stop teaching French in primary schools
Zurich is the latest German-speaking Swiss canton to question Switzerland’s policy of teaching French from the first years of school. This week, its cantonal council voted to scrap early French lessons, joining Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which made a similar decision earlier this year. Proposals to delay French instruction until high school are under discussion in other […]
Swiss government rejects call to double price of the motorway vignette
This week, Switzerland’s government rejected a call to double the price of the motorway vignette, reported RTS. The annual permit, which has cost CHF 40 since 1995, will not rise to CHF 80, as proposed by Martin Candinas, a centrist MP from Graubünden. He had argued that the increase should be coupled with a matching […]
