The week in Switzerland
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The Swiss army is in a dilemma. It has to rearm while losing more and more soldiers to civilian service. That is why 700 new jobs are to be created in the defence ministry in the areas of drones, air defence systems and cyber defence.
In the Alps, the hot summer has meant record business for cable car operators. Smaller cable cars in particular have benefited more than average. Summer tourism is becoming increasingly important for the mountain regions.
Warm greetings from Bern
The Swiss army is arming itself but losing thousands of soldiers to civilian service every year. How can defence be secured with dwindling staff? Around 700 new jobs in the defence ministry are raising eyebrows.
The Swiss Armed Forces lose around 12,000 conscripts every year, mainly to civilian service. By 2030, the number of conscripts threatens to fall to below 130,000. Now the Federal Council wants to counteract this with more flexible service models.
The women’s quota shows a ray of hope: the proportion of women in the military is rising continuously. Interest is particularly high in management careers, Watson writes. A mandatory orientation day is to further reinforce this trend from 2028.
At the same time, the rearmament is causing a shortage of personnel in the defence ministry. Up to 700 new jobs are needed for new weapon systems such as drones, air defence systems and cyber defence. Since Defence Minister Martin Pfister wants to save money internally, there is a risk of less funds being left over for arms purchases.
The former German spy chief August Hanning has been in custody since this week for treason – and his footprints also lead to Switzerland. Apparently, the former head of the German Federal Intelligence Service was also involved in dubious business in Switzerland.
Germany is in shock. The 80-year-old ex-BND chief is said to have used more than 2,000 secret documents for private consulting transactions over the years. According to information from security circles, this includes information from foreign partner services. This is said to have been supplied to him by a high-ranking BND employee for money who was also arrested.
Hanning also left clear traces in Switzerland, writes the Tages-Anzeiger on Thursday. He was a member of the board of directors of two Lucerne-based security companies. His company even came under scrutiny in the sensational trial of an alleged child abduction involving a billionaire family.
While German politicians are calling for a ban on consulting jobs for former agents, Swiss media are also reporting on the case. The scandal has shaken confidence in the BND in the long term and has triggered investigations on both sides of the border.
A hot summer and a sunny autumn brought record numbers to Swiss cable cars. Summer business is becoming increasingly important for Alpine destinations. But is it just a one-off boom due to a very hot summer or a sign of a more enduring trend?
Swiss cable car operators recorded 10% more first-time admissions from May to the end of September than in the previous year. The industry uses this figure to count a single guest when they first enter the cable car network on a given day. Compared to the five-year average, the number of guests even increased by an impressive 28%.
The growth was particularly strong in the Bernese Oberland , with an increase of 22%. According to data from Seilbahnen Schweiz, areas at medium altitudes between 1,000 and 2,000 metres benefited in particular. The summer heat attracted not just locals but also more guests from North America to the mountains, as reported by French-speaking Swiss television RTS. The strong result shows that summer tourism in the Alps has long since ceased to be a side business.
A record find in the canton of Basel Country is a wake-up call for Switzerland. In Pratteln , the police seized over 3,200 vials of illegal peptides. It is the largest find of its kind in the country to date.
The success in Pratteln is due to a targeted action by the authorities. During the house search, the police came across thousands of peptide vials as well as syringes, packaging and labels. The active ingredients are said to help with obesity and muscle pain, among other things.
Criminal proceedings have been opened against two people for violations of the Therapeutic Products Act and the Sports Promotion Act, as Blick writes. The illegal substances pose considerable health risks, the authorities warn.
The record find shows the dark side of the trend: While the black market is flourishing, the legal Swiss industry produces a third of all peptides approved worldwide, according to a recent Swissinfo analysis.
The week ahead
The footballer’s hairstyle from the 1980s is back! Since 2024, there Switzerland has hosted a competition to recognise the best mullet hairstyles (short at the front, long at the back). On Sunday, the wildest mullets will compete in Martigny at the second edition of the “Swiss Mullet Cup”.
On Friday, we will publish the current SBC Election Barometer on our website, one year before the next federal elections. Which party will gain voter share and which will lost support?
Emigration is not only an issue in modern times, many people left their homeland even in ancient times – for very different reasons. On Friday, a media orientation on the special exhibition “Up and away! People on the road for thousands of years” will take place at the Museum of Antiquities in Basel. The exhibition runs from October 18, 2026 to April 18, 2027.
This presentation by the St. Gallen cantonal police, which will also take place on Friday, could be interesting. It will showcase its use of drones for speed enforcement in Mosnang.
Translated from German, sub-edited by Anand Chandrasekhar
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