Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

Five big news stories from Switzerland not to miss this week

New language requirements for naturalisation candidates, and higher rents for many tenants, are among the big news stories in Switzerland this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.

Published: 1 December 2023 16:03 CET
Five big news stories from Switzerland not to miss this week
What does this have to do with this week's news? Read to find out. Photo: Pixabay

Zug’s right-wingers want naturalisation candidates to have better (German) language skills

The cantonal government has responded favourably to a motion from the populist Swiss People’s Party calling for a better language proficiency to obtain Swiss citizenship.

Until now, people who wish to obtain Swiss citizenship in the German-speaking canton, where about 30 percent of the population is foreign, must have a proficiency of a B1 (intermediate) oral level, and A2 (upper elementary) in written skills.

Under the new proposal, however, the candidate should have level B2 (upper intermediate) for oral German and level B1(intermediate) in writing.

READ ALSO: Swiss canton Zug pushes for tougher language rules for naturalisation 

Labour shortage fuels need for more employees

A shortage is still impacting Switzerland’s labour market — more so in some regions than in others and in certain specific sectors.

Qualified employees are urgently needed in several sectors, mainly healthcare, IT, and engineering.

This is a finding of a new survey carried out by Adecco recruitment agency together with the Swiss Labour Market Monitor from the University of Zurich.

Most job openings are currently in the Northwest, where 2.8 percent of jobs are vacant, followed by Zurich and central Switzerland (2.6 percent).

READ ALSO: Switzerland sees jump in number of job openings 

Switzerland maintains its work quotas for third-country nationals

Despite a push from Switzerland’s Justice Minister to issue fewer permits to workers from outside the European Union, the government will retain the same number of quotas for 2024.

This means that up to 8,500 skilled workers can again be recruited from third countries: 4,500 will get a B residence permit, and 4,000 a short-term  L permit. 

UK citizens are eligible for separate quotas as part of a transitional post-Brexit arrangement: 2,100 B and 1,400 L permits are set aside just for them.

READ ALSO: Switzerland resists pressure to cut work permits for non-EU workers

Zurich ranked world’s most expensive city

A new ranking by The Economist magazine places Zurich in the top spot.

The reason for the high cost of living in the city, “partly reflects the strength of the Swiss franc, as well as high prices for groceries, household goods and recreation,” according to the report.

Not surprisingly, Switzerland’s second-largest city, Geneva, is also world’s second most-expensive in The Economist ranking.

READ ALSO: Why Zurich is the world’s most expensive city to live in 

New rent hikes to hit a number of Swiss tenants

Tenants in Switzerland just can’t catch a break: their rents will go up from December for the second time this year.

The most recent increase was announced in June.

On Friday, the Federal Housing Office (BWO) announced that it is raising, with immediate effect, the reference mortgage rate to 1.75 percent, from 1.50 percent.
 
“As a result, and in accordance with lease law, landlords can in principle increase the rent by around 3 percent

READ ALSO: Switzerland sees new rent hike but will yours go up? 

Also in the news this week:

Swiss words of 2023

Even if you are still trying to wrap your head around one of Switzerland’s national languages (much less all four), you need to know the words selected as best describing the country’s “social discourse” this year:

READ ALSO: The four ‘Swiss’ words you really need to know in 2023

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

Six big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week

Family reunification move from third-countries refused by MPs, and a bid to find out if foreigners use health system more than the Swiss, are among the Swiss news that The Local reported this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.

Published: 13 September 2024 16:40 CEST
Six big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week

Swiss citizens can’t reunite with their third-country parents

The Council of States has rejected a bill which focused on whether naturalised or dual Swiss citizens could bring their foreign relatives from third countries to live in Switzerland.

The goal of the project aimed to eliminate the discrimination suffered by the Swiss citizens compared to their EU/EFTA counterparts regarding the admission of foreign members of their family from third countries within the framework of family reunification.

However, MPs rejected the move on the grounds that the number of additional people who would arrive in Switzerland under this measure could not be estimated, nor could the costs that this measure would generate for the country’s social security scheme.

READ ALSO: Switzerland rejects move to ease family reunification rules for naturalised Swiss citizens 

Switzerland to scrap some benefits from next year’s budget

The country’s deficit — estimated at about 3 billion francs a year — prompted the government to find ways to reduce the budget by at least 3 billion francs by 2027 and by at least 4 billion by 2030.

To achieve this goal, the government-appointed panel of experts presented over 60 measures that could considerably curb government spending.

Among the proposals put forth is to end federal subsidies for childcare, abolish tax incentives for capital withdrawals under the second and third pillar-pensions, and reduce the financing of the railway and road infrastructure.

READ ALSO: Three budget cuts Switzerland wants to make that will impact you

The amount of rent increase landlords are entitled to after renovations is set

Switzerland’s federal court has ruled that investments resulting in an increased value of rented properties can be remunerated at the same rate as the one defined for calculating the permissible net return.

This means that for an average tenant, this would be a return that exceeds the reference interest rate by 2 percent — as long as the reference interest rate is below 2 percent.

So if we take the current rate of 1.75 percent, the post-renovation rent could go up by 3.75 percent.

READ ALSO: Top Swiss court rules how much landlords can hike rent by after renovations 

SWISS airline and Zurich airport slammed for flight delays and cancellations

A new analysis by the passenger rights portal Flightright raised doubts about the reliability of the two flagships of Swiss aviation — despite their reputation for punctuality and reliability,

The portal compared the 20 European airlines with the most departures between June 20th and September 4th of this year, finding that Switzerland recorded both the most cancellations (2.5 percent) and the most delays (39 percent).

Furthermore, 43 percent of SWISS flights arrived more than 15 minutes late — the third-worst result of the 20 airlines examined.

READ ALSO: Why has Switzerland become so bad for flight delays and cancellations? 

MPs say foreigners use health system more than the Swiss

The National Council has voted in favour of a motion that would allow patients’ nationality to be collected, so authorities can examine the benefits of health insurance.

“For reasons of transparency, the nationality of insured persons must be considered as a variable to be analysed to examine the benefits payable by health insurance,” said deputy Cyril Aellenfrom the Radical Liberal party, one of the move’s instigators. 

The objective of this push is to find out if foreign residents cost the obligatory health insurance scheme more than the Swiss, although it is not clear at this point what purpose would this information ultimately serve.

READ ALSO: Switzerland to seek data on how foreigners use health services 

Foreign residents targeted by hateful mail

Our most read story of the week in Switzerland was a pretty disturbing one.

It was about an anti-foreigner flyer that was sent to the homes and perhaps workplaces of a number of international residents in Switzerland (and even Swiss citizens with foreign names) telling them they should leave and that they have “turned the country into a shit hole”.

Written in English, the text reads in part: “Foreigners, you are illegal…in 2014, the Swiss voted in a referendum to stop mass immigration from the EU, but are being unconstitutionally ignored by the government because of pressure from employers and economy lobbyists!”

It also says: “You’ve turned our beautiful country into a foreigner-infested, over-populated, over-priced and culturally-estranged shit hole.”

It’s not clear who is responsible for the leaflet.

READ ALSO: ‘You’ve made Switzerland a sh*thole’: Foreign residents targeted by xenophobic leaflet

 

SHOW COMMENTS