Switzerland Today

Greetings from Lausanne!

Will they? Won’t they? There has been much expectation about the national authorities introducing tighter restrictions on public life to deal with the uptick in Covid infections. In the end, the government has decided to hold off widening the use of the so-called Covid certificate – for now.

Elsewhere, business people have been meeting in Interlaken, the Swiss population continues to expand and Filippo Lombardi, the new president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), gives his views on free movement between Switzerland and the European Union, e-voting and bank accounts.

Keystone / Anthony Anex

In the news: Kosovo’s president, “marriage for all” and a Kurdish Geneva office.

• The second Swiss Economic Forum (SEF)is taking place in the mountain resort of InterlakenExternal link today. Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter and Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu are present. This year’s business meeting, attended by 1,300 people, goes under the motto “New Horizons”. On the sidelines of the meeting Kosovo’s president urged Kosovars in Switzerland to get vaccinated. Around 200,000 people with Kosovar roots live in Switzerland.
• The Syrian government has complained to Switzerland about the opening up of a Kurdish “representation” office in Geneva, it has been reported. The Turkish authorities lodged a similar complaint three weeks ago.
• The Swiss population grew by 64,300 people to 8,670,300 last year, an increase of 0.7%, despite the sharp increase in deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The Swiss cultural sector took a heavy hit last year due to the pandemic, new figures show. The number of people working in the sector has dropped by almost 5%, cinema ticket sales fell by nearly two-thirds and the number of people visiting museums across the country halved.
• The governmentExternal link says it is giving CHF60 million ($65.5 million) in additional support to the Swiss tourism sector that has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
• If the “marriage for all” initiative had taken place today, 66% of voters would have backed the legal reform to allow same-sex marriage in Switzerland, the Tamedia media group reportsExternal link. But support for the “99% capital gains tax initiative” put forward by the Young Socialists seems to be waning, it said. Only 40% are in favour.
• Meeting its 2050 zero-carbon target will not be easy for Switzerland, new reportsExternal link show. The Swiss will need 30-50% more electricity by 2050, mainly for the transport and housing sectors. To meet this extra demand, renewables must be doubled over the next three decades, extra electricity will have to be imported, and more efforts must go into stocking energy and other technological solutions.

Keystone / Valentin Flauraud

Extending the use of Covid certificate to curb the virus

Bar, restaurant and club owners are breathing a sigh of relief today. There had been much speculation that the Federal Council could extend the use of the Covid certificate to public indoor spaces to contain the worrying spread of the virus. In the end it decided to hold off tighter restrictionsExternal link on public life.

Hospital admissions have been rising in Switzerland, but over the past week they did not go up, the government said today. Amid the uncertainty, it has decided to wait. But it says it reserves the right to extend the use of the Covid pass in the future, depending on the evolution of the health situation. The Swiss Covid-19 certificate provides proof of vaccination, recovery or a recent negative test result. A certificate requirement is already in place for nightclubs and large events.

The virus situation in Switzerland remains extremely uncertain as a fourth wave hits the country. New cases have rebounded to between 2,500-3,000 a day. The growth is largely due to the highly infectious Delta variant affecting unvaccinated people, mainly youngsters. Just over half the Swiss population has been fully vaccinated, but a third of adults remain unjabbed.

There has been much talk about how to respond to the worrying uptick in Covid cases with people returning from holiday, autumn around the corner and children going back to school. Swiss cantons and cities are getting inventiveExternal link trying to encourage more people to get jabbed. But tighter restrictions may be on the way. Last weekend Swiss Interior Minister Alain Berset said the authorities were even considering bringing back quarantine for travellers for the autumn holidays.

But much of the focus has been on the Covid certificate and of the government intruding into people’s lives. The Federal Council had signalled the possibility of extending the use of the Covid certificate last week when it ordered millions more doses of Covid-19 vaccine for possible use as booster shots, as it warned that a rising number of serious cases could soon overwhelm hospitals.

The idea of widening the use of the certificate, which has been done in neighbouring France and Italy, was well received in general, the government said. Most cantons and political parties, with the exception of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, were in favour. Sports and cultural associations were also positive, but the restaurant, catering, nightclub, museum and fitness sectors were firmly against the idea.

Keystone / Anthony Anex

We chat with new OSA president Filippo Lombardi

In a wide-ranging interview with SWI swissinfo.ch, Filippo Lombardi (above), the new president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), talks about changing attitudes towards Swiss citizens who live outside Switzerland, recent disappointments and current challenges.