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THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

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

Tragic accidents in the Swiss Alps and the growing foreign population are among the Swiss news The Local reported this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.

Published: 5 April 2024 15:30 CEST
Five big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week
Small Swiss towns beat larger ones. Photo by Daniele La Rosa Messina on Unsplash

Three people killed in a massive avalanche

A 15-year-old boy from the United States had died, along with two adults, in an avalanche that hit in the vicinity of Zermatt, a ski resort in Valais Alps.

Of the four people pulled out of the snow, only one was still alive, a 20-year-old Swiss man who was seriously injured and airlifted to hospital. 

READ ALSO: US teenager among three killed in Swiss avalanche 

And another tragedy struck in the mountains:

A deadly helicopter crash claims three lives

Three people, including a Canadian woman, were killed and three others injured in a helicopter crash on the Petit Combin mountain in the Swiss Alps.

The accident happened at a landing site during a heliski drop-off, after the aircraft slid off a 3,668-metre-high slope in canton Valais.

READ ALSO: Three killed in Swiss Alps helicopter crash 

SWISS airline vows to maintain the Geneva-Zurich flights

Despite complaints over the environmental impact of the 30-minute flight, the CEO of Switzerland’s flagship carrier said the air shuttle between the two hubs will continue.

It is used primarily by passengers from the French-speaking part of the country who are making a connection to international flights in Zurich.

READ ALSO : Why flights between Geneva and Zurich are so controversial

Small towns make better financial sense in Switzerland

Even though most of Switzerland’s population live in or near big cities,  a new study has shown that small and medium-sized communities are a better option.

That’s because they are less expensive overall in terms of rents, property prices, taxes, health insurance premiums, as well as commuting costs.

READ ALSO: Why Switzerland’s smaller towns trump bigger cities 

Switzerland’s foreign population is growing

In 2023, 241,700 people immigrated to Switzerland, an increase of 38.2 percent compared to 2022.

Most of them came from Germany, Italy, and France, along with other EU countries.

Having doubled between 2022 and 2023 from 2.3 to 5.2 percent, foreign residents have experienced faster growth than Swiss population.

READ ALSO : Understanding Switzerland’s growing foreign population

There is more news this week:

April has just began, and with warmer weather underway, you can enjoy a number of fun activities in Switzerland:

READ ALSO: Six things you should do in Switzerland this April 

Also, if you are wondering what’s ahead for the rest of the month, this article provides the answers.

Last but not least, have you ever wondered why some people are successful in their bid for Swiss citizenship, while others fail?

Turns out, there are some (decidedly arbitrary) reasons at play:

READ ALSO: The bizarre reasons people have been denied Swiss citizenship

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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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