Switzerland Today
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Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Thursday.
In the news: COP26, House of Switzerland plans and cloud computing
- Switzerland has committed $25 millionExternal link to fund poor countries’ efforts to adapt to climate change, Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga (photo above) said today at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. The United Nations has called for a dramatic scale-up in financial aid.
- Switzerland has cancelled plans to erect a marketing and meeting venue in Beijing at the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in light of expected Covid-19 restrictions.
- The Swiss federal authorities can proceed with awarding a cloud computing contract to five US and Chinese companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Alibaba, after Google dropped an appeal against the decision to leave it out of the project.
- The Swiss authorities do not expect big arrivals of Afghan refugees despite large numbers crossing the eastern border in recent months, mostly illegally. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) says more than 1,500 Afghan refugees have entered Switzerland this year, with numbers picking up substantially since August.
Geneva-Lausanne ‘rail chaos’ continues
The media in French-speaking Switzerland continue to focus on the “rail chaos” caused by the ongoing closure of the main train link between Geneva and Lausanne. Swiss Federal Railways says the line will not re-open until Friday due to complex emergency work to plug the holes that appeared between tracks at Tolochenaz, near Morges in canton Vaud, on Tuesday. The holes were caused by tunneling work under the tracks carried out by a private company.
Le TempssaidExternal link the episode demonstrated once again the “extreme fragility” of the line. It said the boss of Swiss Federal Railways, Vincent Ducrot, should urgently address the “long neglected” route.
The Geneva-Lausanne rail link is extremely busy, transporting up to 10,000 passengers per hour and rail freight between France and the rest of Switzerland. Local politicians are again calling for greater investment, saying a second track is needed on the line to avoid such incidents in the future.
“We have a single line to link the two major poles [Geneva and Lausanne]. Elsewhere, especially in Swiss German regions, there is always extra capacity and a second line,” Nuria GorriteExternal link, the Vaud minister in charge of infrastructure, told Swiss public television RTS.
She said French-speaking Switzerland has always been the “poor cousin” when it comes to federal rail investments. The situation in the Lake Geneva region is the result of money being invested in the New Rail Link through the Alps – the Lötschberg Base Tunnel and the Gotthard Base Tunnel – and around Zurich , she added.
‘Nein Danke’: the resistance to Covid-19 vaccines in German-speaking Europe
Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, Switzerland has one of the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rates in western Europe, the FT writes today. More than one-third of the Swiss population (33%) have not had a first dose of a Covid vaccine. The rate is similar in neighbouring Austria (33.1%) and in Germany (30.4%).
The FT analyses the factors behind vaccine hesitancy in the three German-speaking nations where case numbers are surging.
Suzanne Suggs, a professor at the University of Lugano’s public health institute, believes the health messaging in German-speaking countries has been “functional rather than emotional”. This has meant “conspiracy theories have filled that void”, she says.
The article highlights a poll that found that 80% of unvaccinated Germans said they were avoiding the jab because they first needed to weigh up the risks and benefits, while 41% simply considered vaccination “unnecessary”.
The FT journalist claims anti-vaccine sentiment “intersects strongly with anti-establishment and populist politics”. Another German poll found that half of unvaccinated respondents had voted for the rightwing populist AfD in the recent federal election. In Austria, the rightwing populist Freedom Party has strongly opposed vaccination measures. Switzerland is holding a vote on November 28 on the national Covid law and Covid certificate. The rightwing Swiss People’s Party is openly campaigning against the government.
Many young people in the three countries are also opposed to Covid-19 vaccinations and government measures to encourage it, according to the FT.
Swiss parliamentarians’ Brussels visit bodes ill for Cassis
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis is due to meet European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefcovic in Brussels next week for highly anticipated talks on Swiss-EU relations and “the way forward in the mutually beneficial relationship”, in the words of the Swiss foreign minister. But things could be tricky as the current atmosphere in Brussels is not “very positive”, according to the NZZExternal link.
A House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee just ended a three-day visit to the Belgian capital for talks with MEPs, EU officials and diplomats. Tiana Angelina Moser, a Green Liberal and head of the delegation, told journalists afterwards that she felt the EU’s position had “hardened”.
Relations between Switzerland and its biggest trading partner deteriorated in May when the Swiss government unilaterally walked away from seven years of negotiations over an institutional framework agreement with Brussels to oversee future long-term ties.
Moser said it was clear from her talks that the decision to break off negotiations and the manner in which this was communicated had “left their mark” and created “noticeable resentment”.
One area of focus for Cassis’ talks will be a potential Swiss reassociation to the EU’s flagship research programme, Horizon Europe. After May’s events, the EU relegated Switzerland to non-associated country status. This cuts off Swiss researchers from funding by the European Commission.
Moser said it was clear that the EU links market access issues to other cooperation. In concrete terms, this means that if Switzerland wants to be fully involved in Horizon Europe it must make progress on institutional issues. Even if negotiations are interrupted, the issues to be resolved remain the same, she added.
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