Switzerland Today
Greetings from Bern,
Here are the latest news and stories doing the rounds in Switzerland on Friday.
In the News: good year for startups, and some covid updates
- Swiss startups had a good year in 2021, an annual report has revealed. Total investment climbed above the symbolic CHF3 billion mark for the first time last year, with young firms in the ICT, fintech, and cleantech sectors particularly successful. Companies based in cantons Zurich and Vaud – home of the two Swiss federal technology institutes, hotbeds of innovation – accounted for CHF1.9 billion between them.
- The authorities have verified the 125,000 signatures handed in by campaigners to force a nationwide vote on vaccine mandates. The initiators want a clause inserted in the Swiss constitution to allow people to opt out of vaccinations without being fined or otherwise disadvantaged. They say their issue is not just with Covid-19 but with all vaccines and “chips or digital information in the body”. A date for the vote has not yet been set.
- Interior Minister Alain Berset has hinted that there could be soon an easing of Covid-19 restrictions. The current five-day quarantine regime and the home office obligation could be reviewed next week, Berset said. The covid certificate system for entering restaurants and public indoor spaces is not up for review yet, he said. Today, another 40,000 new covid cases were registered, but the hospital situation is still stable.
Europe’s biggest casino gets rolling again.
It’s been a rough few years for the municipality of Campione d’Italia, the tiny Italian exclave on the shores of Lake Lugano in southern Switzerland. In 2018, when the local casino went bankrupt, the municipality also collapsed, with 500 people (a quarter of the population) suddenly unemployed, and no money coming in to ensure essential services. Campione’s entry into the EU customs area in 2020 – an unpopular decision among locals, who had been happy with their special “Swiss” status – brought fresh bureaucratic headaches. “The once buoyantly prosperous exclave is a glum place these days,” the Economist wroteExternal link at the time.
This week, the town was given a lifeline as the casino re-opened its doors. The establishment, at its peak the biggest in Europe, dates to 1917, and was once a lavish venue for diplomats and high-rollers; Campione was the richest municipality in Italy a few decades ago. This time, things are more sober, Swiss media report: of the 500 staff let go, just 174 have been reemployed, and at the meagre salary of CHF3,600 per month. The casino operators, who hope to diversify by also using the huge building (see photo) to house restaurants and apartments, say wages could be raised “if business goes well”. With online casinos on the riseExternal link in Switzerland, they’ll have their work cut out.
Swiss photographer dies, out in the cold.
René Robert, known for his portraits of flamenco stars like Paco de Lucia, died in Paris last week at the age of 85, it was reported yesterday. But how he died received more attention than the fact: while taking an evening walk near the busy Place de la République in Paris, Robert fell down for an unknown reason and, unable to get up, lay on the ground overnight for eight hours, without getting any help from passers-by. He died of hypothermia the next morning. Speaking to the France Info radio station, his friend Michel Morpontet didn’t hold back: “this tragic end reveals something totally hideous about our behaviour and our solidarity towards others”, he said. “How did we get to this point?” Spanish daily El País writes about the photographer and his life in English hereExternal link.
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