Swiss Abroad supporter Lombardi returns to political stage
Filippo Lombardi, vice-president of the Organisation for the Swiss Abroad (OSA), has been elected to the city council of Lugano in southern Switzerland.
Lombardi, 64, is thus returning to politics almost 18 months after losing his place in the Senate by just 45 votes. For 20 years he had been one of two senators for Italian-speaking canton Ticino.
He has long been a vocal supporter of the OSA, which represents the interests of the so-called Fifth Switzerland, the 800,000 or so Swiss citizens – a tenth of the Swiss population – who live abroad.
For example in 2018 he put forward a motion – rejected by parliament – to give Swiss expats guaranteed access to an account with a major Swiss bank.
Lombardi has also urged the government to adopt a more coherent policy towards the Swiss Abroad, particularly concerning their economic benefits to Switzerland.
More
Lawmakers throw out plan to act on expat accounts
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.