Switzerland Today
Greetings from Lausanne!
Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Friday.
In the news: more aid for Ukraine, Swiss citizens told to leave Russia and reforms to corporate tax.
- The Swiss government has boosted its humanitarian support to victims of the war in Ukraine. Switzerland initially set aside CHF8 million ($8.6 million) for its Ukraine aid operation; this has now been raised to CHF80 million.
- Switzerland has advised its citizens to temporarily leave Russia due to the “increasingly unpredictable” situation in the country following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
- Swiss business tycoon Hansjörg Wyss is still interestedExternal link in acquiring Chelsea Football Club despite the new circumstances, Swiss newspaper Blick reported on Thursday after sanctions imposed against the current owner – the Russian Roman Abramovich – put the sale process on hold.
- More Covid-19vaccine injections are on the horizon. The government says it will purchaseExternal link seven million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine and seven million doses of the Moderna vaccine for 2023, with options for an additional seven million doses of each.
- Switzerland looks set to miss a deadline for implementing a minimum 15% rate of tax on large companies, but is planning stop-gap measures to meet agreed international standards.
Up to 60,000 Ukrainians could seek refuge in Switzerland.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, more than 2.5 million people have fled the country, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Around 1.5 million people have travelled to Poland.
The UNHCR estimates that 10-15 millionUkrainians will be displaced by the war, out of a population of 44 million. The UNHCR head, Filippo Grandi, says this is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.
Switzerland has registered some 2,100, two-thirds of whom are staying in federal asylum centres and one-third in private households. However, the authorities expect this figure to rise steeply. Between 50,000 and 60,000 Ukrainians could seek protection in Switzerland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Swiss justice minister.
This is a “very big challenge” for our country, said Karin Keller-Sutter.
The government has also confirmed plans to activate a special S permitExternal link for people affected by the war who are in need of emergency protection – a permit that would allow them to live and work in Switzerland for a year, with an option to extend if necessary.
Where’s my nearest bunker?
Talk of nuclear weapons and war, and images of Ukrainians taking refuge in the Kyiv metro or cowering in dark basements under their apartment building have sparked renewed interest in Switzerland in bunkers and civil protection shelters.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Swiss mediaExternal link have published numerous reportsExternal link on the state of Swiss shelters and their availabilityExternal link to the public in the event of an emergency. Some local authorities have reportedly received calls from anxious residents about the issue.
Under Swiss law, every inhabitant must have a protected spot “that can be reached quickly from his place of residence”, while “apartment block owners are required to construct and fit out shelters in all new dwellings”. But this rule is not followedExternal link by all municipalities and cantons.
A new report by Swiss public radio RTS showsExternal link the number of shelters per municipality in French-speaking Switzerland.
It’s a record winter for southern Switzerland: very warm, lots of sunshine and almost no precipitation.
“Never since records began in 1864 has it been so mild, dry and sunny south of the Alps in the winter months as this winter season,” Luca Nisi, a meteorologist at MeteoSwiss in Locarno Monti, toldExternal link the NZZ newspaper.
And there is no change in sight. “Maybe a few flakes or drops next weekend, but a substantial change is not pending,” said Nisi.
Winters are traditionally very dry south of the Alps, but this winter has been exceptional. The last major heavy rain – over 50 millimetres a day – was on November 3. After that it has rained a few times or snowed at higher altitudes, but only in small amounts. No precipitation was recorded in March.
In January you could also see packed terraces and people strolling around Ascona or Locarno in T-shirts in temperatures of 20-degree Celsius.
But the warm weather also has downsides: ski resorts in canton Ticino lack snow, the Maggia River is a trickle, and farmers have been badly affected by the persistent drought, especially vegetable and fruit growers. There are also concerns about a heatwave this summer.
Who is Patricia Danzi?
Patricia Danzi (photo above) started work as the first female head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in May 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From Bern to Bosnia”, a 2021 documentary by Swiss public television, SRF, and now available on SWI swissinfo.ch, follows her in her challenging daily work.
Danzi, 53, has an extensive CV. She was appointed director general of the SDC after 25 years spent working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) around the world.
She has many other talents, too. She’s a former elite athlete who represented Switzerland in the heptathlon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and she speaks seven languages.
The documentary is part of a new series of Swissfilms, subtitled in English, being published by SWI swissinfo.ch, all of which have been chosen from the Swiss streaming platform Play Suisse.
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