Over the weekend, several thousand people took to Swiss streets to protest against Switzerland’s measures to reduce the impact of Covid-19, reported RTS. In Lausanne, between 800 and 1,000 people marched in protest against Covid certificates and restrictions on individual liberty. No violence or property damage was reported. In Lugano, calls from an association named […]
Swiss government rejects selection of judges by lottery
This week, the Federal Council launched its campaign against a vote on 28 November 2021 to move to a system where Switzerland’s judges would be selected by lottery. The proposed system would involve randomly selecting judges from a preselected pool of qualified people. Currently, Swiss judges are elected by the Federal Assembly, the combination of […]
Swiss advisory firms exposed in Pandora Papers
The Pandora Papers, a leak of more than 11.9 million files from offshore service providers, reveal the widespread involvement of Swiss advisory firms in the set up of shell companies in tax havens. The recent Pandora Papers contain far more information than the Panama Papers, which were leaked in 2016 and resulted in the fall […]
Swiss parliament votes to pay billion to EU
On 30 September 2021, Switzerland’s parliament voted to release a CHF 1.3 billion payment to the EU with no strings attached, reported RTS. The parliamentary voting result of 131 to 55 in favour with 1 abstention, which followed an intense two-hour debate, allows the payment to be made. The vote follows a vote on the […]
Presumed consent for organ donation, accepted by Swiss government
This week, the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, followed parliament and approved presumed consent for organ donation in Switzerland, reported RTS. In response to an initiative launched to put the question of presumed consent of organ donation to Swiss voters, the Federal Council came up with a counterproposal that presumes consent but gives those […]
Swiss minister accused of breaking constitutional principle
Constitutionally, the title of president in Switzerland is only ceremonial. All seven members of the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, have equal power and are required to govern by harmonious consensus, a principle known as collegiality. This means that all federal councillors are expected to present a united front to the public even when they don’t […]
Switzerland moves closer to paying second 1 billion to EU
After Switzerland ended talks with the EU on an institutional framework agreement aimed at replacing the country’s current patchwork of agreements with the bloc in May 2021, some in government have been focused on how to keep the EU on side. One obvious way to curry favour is to make the second 1 billion EU […]
New call for compulsory military service for Swiss women
This week, the Swiss Officers’ Society, a military association, announced that it was in favour of extending compulsory military service to both men and women, according to 20 Minutes. The association submitted a report, which included the recommendation to include compulsory service to women to Viola Amherd, Switzerland’s minister in charge of defense. Society president […]
Swiss anti-Covid certificate referendum gets record number of signatures
Launching a vote to repeal a Swiss law requires 50,000 voter signatures be collected within 100 days. A group opposed to a Swiss law allowing the issuance of voluntary Covid certificates gathered more than 187,000 signatures in 4 weeks, setting a new record, according to 20 Minutes. Collecting as many as 187,433 signatures in the […]
How the Swiss government gets paid to borrow
Normally, those who borrow must pay out more money than they are lent in the form of interest and repayments. Currently, for the Swiss government it is the other way around. Lenders are paying the Swiss federal government to give it money. On 14 July 2021, the Swiss Confederation announced the success of its latest […]
