Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Where the first big snows of the year have arrived, and would have made a nice backdrop to the country’s 2030/2034 Winter Olympic Games bid – had it not been pipped at the post last night by France and the US. More on this in today’s briefing.
In the news: money, money, money
- Zurich, tied with Singapore, is the world’s most expensive city, according to a rankingExternal link today by British magazine The Economist. Switzerland’s biggest city has thus moved up five places since the last ranking, partly due to the strong Swiss franc, the magazine wrote. Geneva is joint third in the list alongside New York.
- US group Vail Resorts is to buyExternal link the Crans-Montana ski resort, in a deal to be finalised over the 2023-2024 winter season. The value of the Valais resort is estimated at CHF118.5 million ($135.5 million). Vail Resorts already owns 55% of the ski-lift company in the Andermatt-Sedrun Urano Gison ski region in central Switzerland.
- Billionaires increased in numbers and overall wealth last year, Swiss bank UBS said on ThursdayExternal link, with fortunes inherited exceeding cash generated by self-made billionaires for the first time in years. Overall, the number of billionaires rose by 7% to 2,544 globally; their total worth rose by 9% to an estimated $12 trillion (CHF10.5 trillion).
Olympic setback: Swiss have to wait until at least 2038
With its campaign “Switzerland 203x”, Swiss sporting officials were hoping to leave the door open to being awarded either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics. It also thought it had decent chances with a candidature based on sustainability and a nationwide – rather than single-city or resort-based – approach. Yesterday evening, however, the decision came which “nobody expected”, Le Temps reportsExternal link: the French Alps are likely to hold the games in 2034, and Salt Lake City in the US in 2034.
This doesn’t mean the Swiss bid is completely dead: it has been offered a “privileged dialogue” on hosting the 2038 games (which means the “203x” slogan holds, ironically). However, Switzerland will have to reapply, and will have to convince the Olympic committee that the games enjoy “political and popular support” in Switzerland, Le Temps says: notably, they will have to downplay the threat of referendums which scuppered some previous Swiss Olympic bids in recent years.
For more on how Swiss politics and media reacted to the deal this morning, my colleague Geraldine Wong Sak Hoi published an overview this afternoon.
No ‘27th canton’ for Swiss Abroad constituents, says government
The government said today that the idea of a specific constituency – or several of them – for Swiss citizens living abroad was a non-starter. Responding to a parliamentary motion by People’s Party politician Jean-Luc Addor, the government stuck to the traditional line: the 800,000 Swiss Abroad citizens can already participate in national politics just like the eight million or so living at home – i.e., through registering on an electoral list in one of the country’s 26 cantons.
Is it the end of the idea of a “27th Swiss canton”? It will yet be debated in parliament, where it’s unlikely to find a majority, given that left-wing parties (in the minority) are the only ones backing it. Besides, as the government said – and as political expert Claude Longchamp has written – the creation of a new constituency would involve a change in the Swiss constitution, and thus a public vote. Would Swiss-based citizens be generous enough to grant such a special status to their émigré brothers and sisters?
Karin Keller-Sutter: shrugs at home, loved abroad?
She is the embodiment of “knowledge, courage and determination”, and “we all owe her a debt of gratitude”. Who? Not Mother Teresa, but Karin Keller-Sutter, Switzerland’s finance minister. The Radical-Liberal politician, often rather understated on the domestic front, was named todayExternal link by the Financial Times as one of its “25 most influential women of 2023” – for context, the list also includes singer Beyoncé, EU Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen, and Spanish footballer Jenni Hermoso.
Keller-Sutter’s Swedish counterpart, Elisabeth Svantesson, writes in the FT that “Karin’s decisive actions in dealing with the Credit Suisse banking crisis earlier this year rescued the Swiss economy […] and at this year’s IMF meeting in Washington she received well-deserved appreciation for her actions from around the world.” At home, meanwhile, Keller-Sutter is not often seen as heroic defender of the national coffers; rather she has an ominous parliamentary inquiry to look forward to. Does she deserve more credit?
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