Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern!

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, expats are here to stay in Switzerland. No longer are high skilled foreign workers coming to Switzerland for a short stint, points out the Neue Zürcher Zeitung paper. Many, wooed by the high salaries and quality of life, end up staying. Is that such a bad thing though?

While expats, however you define them, often get a bad rap for not integrating with locals, they are an important part of Switzerland’s competitiveness and as the NZZ argues, shouldn’t be taken for granted given how expensive it is to live here.

Speaking of expats, many of those with a UK passport are rejoicing today over news that the UK has lifted the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated people traveling from Switzerland.

Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

In the News: Swiss tennis star Belinda Bencic has her sights on two Olympic medals but what colour?

• After Swiss female mountain bikers swept the podium a couple days ago, Belinda Bencic beat Jelena Rybakina to move to the finals. This makes her the first Swiss woman to take part in an individual Olympic tennis final. That’s not all. She also beat the Brazilian team to enter the doubles finals with her partner, Viktorija Golubic.
• Credit Suisse’s $5.5 billion in losses from the collapse of Archegos stemmed from years of mistakes and misjudgments. This is according to a report covered by Bloomberg, which says that risk personnel at the bank ignored clear warning signals about the “catastrophic risk” Archegos’s volatile positions posed to the Swiss bank. The FT writes that the affair weighed on the bank’s quarterly resultsExternal link. It posted a 78% fall in profits for the second quarter. The bank says that it is planning to improve its risk management.
• The Swiss government has held off on further loosening of Covid-19 restrictions. It had planned to announce next steps today but health minister Alain Berset said that the “negative dynamic” of rising daily case numbers (reaching over 800), as well as the “uncertainty” of returning holiday-makers in the coming weeks, meant that it wasn’t time for any large-scale changes. However, it is stepping up the vaccination campaign trying to use incentives rather than coercion to convince people to get the jab, for now, at least.
• A German court has ruled that the golden colour of the foil wrap on Lindt & Sprüngli’s popular chocolate Easter Bunny enjoys protected status. This isn’t the only chocolate battle underway. The Tages-Anzeiger paper published a profile of Vernon Stuber, who developed a chocolate with less sugar that comes in a similar shape and packaging to Toblerone, now owned by American food behemoth Mondelez. He now faces a trademark lawsuit. Here’s a short summary of the chocolate battleExternal link in English.

AFP

Deep Dive: Switzerland is seen as an example of where direct democracy works well in empowering citizens in decision-making.

But this isn’t always the case throughout the world, referendums can also be used as instruments of populism or to maintain popular support for a leader.

On August 1, Mexicans will go to the ballot box to vote on a referendum about political corruption, which Yanina Welp says could prove to be a test for which way Mexico will go. Mexico has more than 260 tools for direct democracy at all political levels but none of them have been applied at the national level, apart from some top-down consultations involving limited parts of the electorate. In the case of political corruption, the president himself put forward the referendum.

Welp writes that direct democracy mechanisms in the hands of strong governments may increase their power against opponents. In Switzerland, the government (which cannot initiate a vote) usually plays a more reactive role. But this doesn’t mean there isn’t power or money behind the votes but Welp writes that direct democracy in Switzerland still serves to empower people who would otherwise have little chance to influence decisions.

We’ll have to see what happens in Mexico on Sunday.

© Keystone / Walter Bieri

Weigh In: What do you miss most when you are away from Switzerland?

Do you stuff packets of Migros ice tea, bottles of Rivella or bags of Zweifel Paprika chips in your suitcase when you come back from Switzerland? With Swiss National Day this Sunday, we want to hear what Swiss products or inventions you can’t live without.