Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was aiming to solve a two-year-old dispute with Switzerland over immigration in a country-specific manner even in the wake of Brexit. The Swiss government has been at pains to implement restrictions on European Union newcomers decided upon in a 2014 referendum without […]
Proposed integration laws rejected by Swiss government commission
20 Minutes. A government commission has rejected proposed laws designed to improve the integration of foreigners in Switzerland, with 12 votes against, 9 for, and 2 abstentions. By early 2014, the Swiss National Council and Council of States had made good progress on the project. Then, following the successful popular vote in February 2014 to […]
The article no Swiss newspaper would publish. One year on.
In December last year, Le News’ former editor, the Swiss-American journalist Edward Girardet, wrote an article entitled “Why the Swiss need to value their foreigners”. After being rejected by a number of Swiss newspapers, it was published by swissinfo.ch, part of Switzerland’s national broadcaster, before being taken down six hours later. Le News interviewed Edward yesterday to challenge some […]
Swiss immigration initiative RASA gets required number of signatures
Tribune de Genève. On 9 February 2014 a slim majority of 50.3% of Swiss voters called for an end to open immigration from European Union (EU) nations. Since then Switzerland has been engaged in difficult discussions with EU negotiators who say that Switzerland’s EU deals, which include trade, must come as a package and cannot […]
Calls for tax breaks for Swiss investors
Start up businesses in Switzerland are being stifled by a lack of investment at the critical early funding stages. This message came across loud and clear at the Innovation Forum conference on Science and Technology this week at EPFL. Entrepreneurs who start new ventures often fund them with money from friends and family. But as […]
Continued rise in cross-border workers entering Switzerland
At the end of 2014 there were 287,100 foreign residents crossing the borders of Switzerland to work. This army of day-tripping workers, called frontaliers in French, would fill around 5,000 buses and exceeds the combined populations of the Cantons of Neuchatel and Jura. The cantons with the highest number of cross-border workers were those with […]
Swiss immigration vote re-run
The February 2014 vote showed just how divided Swiss views on immigration are. While 50.3% voted for the proposal to stop mass immigration, 49.7% voted against it. A re-run could easily undo the result – it should be noted that an exact re-run is not possible under Swiss law. While the amendment to the Swiss […]
A 5-step guide to Switzerland’s immigration changes
On 9 February 2014, Swiss voters decided by a slim majority of 50.3% to adopt new rules on immigration. The new rules now form part of the Swiss Federal constitution. The changes are broad and short on specifics. For this reason the adoption of new legislation implementing the changes is critical for clarifying the exact scope […]
Swiss democracy and xenophobia: Need for more open debate
Last week’s Le News editorial questioning whether the over use of Switzerland’s referendum system was actually undermining democracy through too much democracy received considerable reaction, much of it irate. Clearly, we had touched on a sacred cow, even if not of the Swiss Brown or Simmental variety. How dare one criticize Swiss democracy? It has […]
Switzerland’s initiatives: Too much democracy?
Взять онлайн займ на карту. The overwhelming vote on 30 November against even more limited immigration (Ecopop); an end to special tax rates for wealthy foreigners and minimal gold reserves enabled the Federal Council in Bern, which had opposed all three initiatives, to sigh with relief. What the government did not need were more obstacles […]
