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THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

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

Geneva public transport scam and disrupted train traffic are among the Swiss news The Local reported this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.

Published: 26 July 2024 15:08 CEST
Six big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week
Track repair and maintenance is disrupting train travel in western Switzerland. Photo: SBB media

Switzerland provides 300 million francs to boost protection of the Schengen area

From August 1st, 2024, Switzerland will contribute financially to the European effort to strengthen the protection of Schengen’s external borders.

Although not a member of the EU, Switzerland  nevertheless belongs to the 29-nation zone, and its citizens benefit from being able to travel freely between member countries without going through border controls.

Switzerland’s financial contribution will go toward increasing the effectiveness of border controls and preventing illegal immigration which, according to the Federal Council “is in Switzerland’s interest.”

READ ALSO: Why is Switzerland spending 300 million francs to protect Schengen borders? 

Foreigners are behind the sharp increase of doctoral students in Switzerland

PhD students make up a large proportion of Switzerland’s student population.

Their number has doubled in the last 30 years, with international students driving this increase; foreigners are now making up the majority of students studying for a doctorate in Switzerland.

However, the proportion of international students varies significantly according to the subject area, with PhDs in mechanical engineering and natural sciences attracting the highest numbers (around 80 and 70 percent, respectively).
 
READ ALSO: Why Switzerland is attracting more foreign PhD students than ever 

Geneva’s public transport system falls victim to Russian scammers

A fraudulent Facebook page, allegedly an account belonging to Geneva’s public transport company (TPG), offers fake annual subscriptions for 2.35 francs — versus the real price, which ranges between 400 and 500 francs a year.

Scammers are believed to operate from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and their main goal is to retrieve confidential banking information from their victims.

Geneva’s Public Prosecutor’s Office could open proceedings against the criminals and work with local authorities to trace the perpetrators — except that Russia will likely not cooperate, according to the TPG spokesperson.

READ ALSO: Geneva commuters warned over public transport ticket scam

Train travel in western Switzerland will not be reliable in coming weeks

Due to various construction sites on tracks and on general rail infrastructure in the French-speaking part of the country, a number of trains will be cancelled or delayed throughout August.

Main disruptions will occur between Geneva Airport and Lausanne, between between Montreux and  Villeneuve, as well as between cantons of Vaud and Valais.

Some regional trains are replaced by buses for the duration of the works.
 
READ ALSO: How your train travel in Switzerland will be disrupted in August 

Swiss politicians debate which US presidential candidate is a better choice

Though discussions about foreign politics are normally not part of the Swiss MP’s agenda, they are divided about how beneficial — or not — American VP Kamala Harris, who is expected to get the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, would be for Switzerland.
 
While the conservatives in the Swiss parliament prefer to see Donald Trump (and Republicans in general) take over the Oval Office,  moderate deputies favour Harris, deemed to be “closer to our values than Trump.”

READ ALSO: Trump vs Harris: Swiss MPs argue over who would be better for Switzerland 

Hundreds of Swiss hiking paths ruined

Switzerland’s mountainous terrain offers perfect hiking country for thousands of walkers each summer but this year over 600 trails have been forced to close after bad weather. And some may never reopen.

The Local reported this week that more than 620 trails –1,300 kilometres in total – have had to be closed to hikers due to heavy rains and flooding that hit some regions of the country at the end of June.

Hiking association Suisse Rando said the storms left many trails impassable whilst some have simply been washed away. Hundreds of others have been damaged and need repairs.

Certain cantons have been more affected than others with Valais particularly badly hit.

And also…
 
With the Summer Olympic Games in Paris already under way, you may be wondering who is representing Switzerland, and at what sports does the country excel?

You can find out about Switzerland’s Olympic (and Paralympic) athletes here:

READ ALSO: What you should know about Switzerland’s 2024 Olympic Team 
 

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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

 

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