Switzerland Today
Greetings from Bern,
If you’re a Swiss taxpayer, you might breathe a sigh of relief at the news that UBS will no longer need the CHF9 billion government guarantee. But, local news organisations talk of another impending threat in Switzerland: the declining purchasing power.
This and more in today’s briefing.
In the news: UBS terminates guarantee agreement, leaked Swiss documents on Ukraine war and blocked Gotthard base tunnel.
- UBS voluntarily terminates guarantee agreement with Swiss government. The Swiss government and taxpayers will no longer bear any risks from guarantees made to preserve financial stability after the collapse of Credit Suisse.
- Russian hackers have published a partly confidential federal document on a possible swap of Piranha wheeled tanks to Ukraine. The document was published on the Russian hacker group Joker DPR messaging channel on the Telegram communication application on Wednesday night.
- Train derailment blocks Gotthard Base Tunnel for a week. The Swiss Federal Railways said the tunnel would remain closed until August 16 at the earliest. Until then, train passengers between German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino will be diverted via the Gotthard panorama route, which takes about an hour longer.
Diplomatic courier to return Swiss Abroad votes to Switzerland? The Social Democrats in the US think it’s a good idea.
Swiss politicians are warming up the engines for the federal elections on October 22. With parties trying to catch the attention of the over 6 million voters, they should not forget about the 200,000 Swiss Abroad who have registered to cast their ballot.
But what are the parties’ planning to do for them? In our election coverage we profiled Switzerland’s six main political parties and today we’re looking at the Social Democrats. The left-wing Social Democratic Party has had an international section since 1999, with branches in the US, France, Israel and Africa.
Although the party decided not to have a Swiss Abroad list, in order not to distinguish between the Swiss in the Alpine country and those who have emigrated, they have one very specific goal for the community abroad.
The Social Democrats International antenna in the US point to using diplomatic courier services for e-voting. The federal government has already examined sending the voting paperwork by diplomatic post. “What we’d like is that the documents can also be sent back via the embassies and consulates,” Social Democrat member Moritz Bondeli said.
Imminent loss of purchasing power: should Swiss salaries increase?
On top of very high quality of life, Switzerland boasts some of the highest salaries in the world. But this could soon change according to the Swiss commercial employees association (KV Switzerland), which raises the alarm of falling purchasing power in the country to Swiss public television SRFExternal link.
The average wage of CHF6,600 has changed very little in recent years, but with prices increasing the purchasing power is declining. Last year Switzerland recorded the highest real wage loss in 30 years, explains SRF.
The Commercial Association is now asking for CHF300 ($342) more per month for people with a monthly wage of less than CHF4,200 and up to 4.5% for everyone else, since they claim the Swiss’ purchasing power has been wiped out by inflation.
People in the low wage segments are particularly affected by these changes, as they can’t compensate for the rising costs. “We want to prevent these people from slipping below the poverty line,” says Manuela Donati from Employees Switzerland.
But there’s always another side of the coin. Simon Wey, chief economist at the Swiss Employers’ Association, says that “employers are already going to the limit when it comes to wage demands.”
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