Switzerland Today
Dear reader,
Many members of the Swiss Abroad community live in France. And what happened there over the past weekend concerns us here in Switzerland too. France, of course, has always trod its own path, with revolution and demonstration part of its DNA. And yet it’s hard to grasp the extent of what happened on Saturday. Today, some Swiss media have tried to provide context.
Enjoy the read!
From looted shops to vandalised public buildings and overwhelmed police forces, the events in France at the weekend were shocking. What do media in Switzerland have to say about it all?
“It’s obvious that something is no longer working,” writes an editorial article in Le Temps, referring to the police response to Saturday’s riots in France.
The Tages-Anzeiger meanwhile speaks of a “watershed moment”, and images of destruction which “mainly harm the movement and its legitimate concerns, drowning them in noise and smoke”.
As for the source of the riots, the newspaper adds that “suddenly there was a platform for rage of all kinds. Anger about fuel prices, the constant loss of purchasing power, the feeling of social decline”.
Blick asks another question. “Why do so many citizens believe their purchasing power no longer allows them to live with dignity?” The real scandal, the newspaper writes, is that of a society in which workers can no longer make ends meet.
On RTS, French security expert Eric Delbecque explains the riots as a combination of organised political violence and opportunistic crime. As for President Emmanuel Macron’s statement on Sunday evening, Delbecque says that “Macron’s rhetoric no longer has any connection to reality”. His government deserves criticism for not taking the growing public anger seriously enough, for sending in police rather than seeking dialogue, Delbeque reckons.
The question is fundamental. Were more police needed, or a better addressing of protesters’ concerns? For Le Temps, “given the caricature-like discourses that dominate the debate – an extreme right demanding total, even blind repression, and an extreme left that sees only systemic police violence behind all excesses – the discussions have little prospect of being constructive”.
Bombshell at Lindt & Sprüngli: the traditional Swiss chocolate-maker is parting ways with its CEO, with immediate effect.
Lindt has been struggling for months with declining sales volumes, particularly in Europe. After huge price increases, the group has already had to lower its sales forecast for 2026 twice. The gamble – that higher prices would mean higher revenues – failed completely.
The abrupt change in leadership at the company affects not only the boardroom in Switzerland, but also Germany, the chocolate producer’s second most important foreign market after the US. Former CEO Dieter Weisskopf is taking over on an interim basis with immediate effect, according to Monday’s announcement.
Investor analyses published by the Zurich Cantonal Bank and Vontobel were both positive about the return to the helm of Lindt insider Weisskopf. Vontobel describes him as one of the most experienced managers in the chocolate industry. However, the sweeping leadership overhaul suggests divergent internal views on pricing policy in Europe and the need for countermeasures, according to Vontobel. The bank also criticises the board under Ernst Tanner, which could have intervened earlier.
“Instead of always trying to break records with Lindor balls and Easter bunnies, Lindt & Sprüngli has become a case in need of renovation,” comments the banking blog Inside Paradeplatz. “Today’s express CEO replacement is a panic move.”
In summer 2026, Switzerland faced serious heat and drought. Was the government up to the challenge? The results of a media investigation isn’t sure.
Journalists at CHMedia trawled through internal public documents to reconstruct how the governing Federal Council steered Switzerland through an unprecedented drought in July and August – and how the extreme weather challenged the administration.
The investigation reveals that a partial task force to deal with the drought was already deployed on June 19. Its job: to “conduct weekly situation reports and be in close contact with the cantons”, as an internal government document states. But Environment Minister Albert Rösti saw no immediate need for action. “If we now have 34°C or 35°C for a few days, you shouldn’t exaggerate and immediately paint a catastrophe scenario,” he told SRF in June.
But from mid-July onwards, heat and drought increasingly led to problems. Switzerland was particularly concerned about supply, of mineral oil and animal feed for example, and media criticism of the government grew louder. Should ministers react? In any case it didn’t, the CHMedia investigation states. “Federal President Guy Parmelin could call an extraordinary meeting – he doesn’t. During the session-free summer weeks, the situation does not come before the full Federal Council,” it writes.
After reviewing all documents, a “peculiar picture of the Swiss state in crisis mode” emerges, the media adds. One major problem was apparently that the drought simultaneously affected different policy areas like health, agriculture, energy, transport, forests and national supply – and thus different government departments. “The national government did not always find it easy to recognise this bigger picture,” the journalists conclude.
Last week, the government presented its strategy on how it wants to protect young people from the pull of social media. Criticism was quick to come – including from a member of the government itself.
In an interview with SRF on Saturday, Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said she believed the Federal Council’s social media proposals do not go far enough.
Last Wednesday, Baume-Schneider’s government colleague, Communications Minister Albert Rösti (Swiss People’s Party), unveiled proposals for social media regulation and youth protection to the public. A corresponding law on communication platforms and search engines is to be ready by mid-2027.
But Baume-Schneider (Social Democratic Party) is already calling for stronger measures. Specifically, she thinks young people should no longer be able to scroll through social media at night. “If a child or young person no longer sleeps, it becomes difficult for their mental health,” the minister told SRF.
Baume-Schneider thus wants to go further than what the government proposes. She advocates access restrictions for children and young people and refers to the European Union’s planned “Kids Act” – which aims to place a general social media restriction for all under-13-year-olds.
As a reminder: as per the Swiss government’s collegiality principle, all seven ministers are supposed to publicly defend decisions taken by the body as a whole.
Translated from German, sub-edited by Domhnall O’Sullivan
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