Le Matin. Carved statues of Mary, Joseph and Jesus have been removed from under Neuchâtel’s town Christmas tree because the town doesn’t want to be associated with religious symbols. “The town’s Christmas tree shouldn’t be associated with religious symbols. It’s everyone’s tree, all citizens, non-religious and religious” said commune councillor Olivier Arni to archinfo.ch. The […]
Swiss canton of Ticino passes law that bans burka
Le Matin. According to the Swiss newspaper Le Matin, from now on it is forbidden to cover your face in a public space in the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino. Following a successful popular vote to ban face covering in public in the canton in September 2013, the Canton’s government has now approved changes to […]
Could Switzerland language divisions ever divide it?
Christophe Büchi discusses the country’s language divisions and why we should worry about Italian-speaking Ticino. Long time correspondent in French-speaking Switzerland for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the journalist and writer is fascinated by the complex relationship between Switzerland’s French and German speakers. He spoke with Thibaut Kaeser of Echo magazine about Switzerland’s language divisions and […]
Mayor of Nyon throws his hat into the ring for 2016 elections
Daniel Rossellat, the current mayor of Nyon, throws his hat into the ring again, announcing this morning that he intends to run for mayor of Nyon in 2016. Known also as the organiser of the Paleo music festival, he has been the town’s mayor since 2009. Born in 1953 in the town of Yverdon-les-Bains he […]
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf quits Swiss ‘cabinet’
Tribune de Genève. Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf announced today that she will not seek reelection as a Federal Councillor in December, stepping down from her position as one of the 7-member executive team at the end of this year. Elected to the Federal Council in 2007, after a coup pushed fellow UDC (SVP) party member Christoph Blocher […]
The video behind the Swiss People’s Party’s election success
This week the Economist magazine wrote of the UDC’s (SVP) highly effective election campaign and how it was a key driver of the party’s record breaking success in last weekend’s election. Instead of using the combative slogans of the past, voters were wooed with softer messages. Swiss 2015 federal elections: UDC gains big ground (Le […]
Why this former Swiss president’s days could be numbered
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is currently one of the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, the executive branch of Switzerland’s government. While all seven members act collectively as the head of state, one holds the ceremonial title of Swiss president, acting as the nation’s figurehead for one year. Normally Federal Council members are reelected. Non-reelection of a sitting member […]
Swiss 2015 election turnout: large cantonal differences
20 Minutes. Overall voting participation in the 2015 Swiss federal elections was 48.41% according to the daily 20 Minutes, slightly lower than the 48.5% turnout for the 2011 Federal elections. The 50% mark has not been passed since 1979. The citizens of some cantons were more enthusiastic than others. This time the winner was Schaffhausen […]
Young multicultural Swiss prefer English
A study recently released by ch-x shows that only 28.2% of young people in the academic stream (Gymnase) at high school in French-speaking Switzerland speak German. On the German-speaking side of the rösti graben 40.6% of the same group speak French, still far from a majority. The number speaking a national language, other than their […]
Swiss open criminal proceedings against FIFA president Blatter
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) opened criminal proceedings against the President of FIFA on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and suspicion of misappropriation. The OAG suspects that on 12 September 2005 Mr. Blatter signed a contract with the Caribbean Football Union, when Jack Warner was its President, that was unfavorable for FIFA. […]
