Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Here are the latest news, stories and press clippings from Switzerland on Thursday.
In the news: Russian gas and uranium cause headaches for Swiss energy sector.
- Switzerland has signed a declaration along with six other European states in favour of pooling gas storage facilities. A joint approach makes sense for non-EU member Switzerland because the country lacks significant storage capabilities, the energy ministry said on Wednesday. The declaration of intent, which is not binding, comes as the country assesses options for avoiding possible energy crunches next winter.
- Greenpeace has urged authorities in seven Swiss cantons – which own the electricity company Axpo – to stop buying uranium from Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom. Axpo, which uses Russian-enriched uranium to power nuclear reactors in Beznau and Leibstadt, says it will honour current contracts with Russia, but not sign new ones. Competitor Alpiq, which runs the Gösgen nuclear site, stopped sourcing from Russia in 2016.
- Switzerland on Thursday condemned a Russian attack on a humanitarian warehouse in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The attack against the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is “a serious violation of international humanitarian law”, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said while attending an international cooperation summit in Geneva on Thursday. The Swiss-run ICRC no longer has staff in the besieged city.
Shawshank redaction: journalists bring back impressions from Zurich prison.
Switzerland took another step towards illiberal dictatorship this week when it put at least half a dozen journalists behind bars in Zurich. The reporters, locked up for nothing more than their natural urge for a scoop, were held at a new prison in the west of the canton, to test conditions before it begins to house “real” inmates next week. A public relations coup by prison authorities? A chance to get a “genuine impression of what being in prison means”? In any case, the journalists are out again (as are the 170 other volunteers), and not only that, they have been composing their harrowing tales.
And so in today’s papers, we read various accounts of what happens when hyper-connected and hyper-social journalists are suddenly put into small cells without phones and Twitter. “Deprivation, the total loss of sources of stimulus”, writes the Tages-Anzeiger inmate, who throws in the towel before her 24 hours are up. “Oppressive”, say the 20 MinutesExternal link inmates (it sent in two!), who talk about the “sluggish” passage of time between 6.45 wake-up, morning shower, afternoon walk, evening lull. “I flick through a novel I was allowed to borrow,” writes the SRFExternal link inmate. “But only for a few minutes. Restlessness creeps over me; the cell door, which doesn’t have a handle, is disturbing.”
Indeed, although nobody complained about how they were treated, preventive detention facilities are the most restrictive in Switzerland, and are where suspects are held for a maximum of 96 hours while a judge decides their further fate. To avoid compromising the investigations, prisoners are often kept apart, and can be in their cells for up to 23 out of 24 hours per day. The Le TempsExternal link inmate, who had enough after 40 hours, writes that there are “few people he would wish to experience it for real”. As for SWI swissinfo.ch’s intrepid journalist, who went in earlier this week, she hasn’t filed her report yet. Hopefully they let her out again.
Contours of Swiss neutrality still evading clear definition.
The trials and tribulations of Swiss neutrality in the Ukraine conflict aren’t yet over, the NZZwritesExternal link today. After the clamour and pressure which saw the country toe the line on western sanctions against Russia, yesterday the government reportedly had an internal tiff about its airspace. Canada, according to “several well-informed sources” of the NZZ, had filed a request to use the airspace to transport military material from the UK to Italy, and the various ministries involved (transport, defence, foreign affairs) were divided about what to do.
While the officialExternal link Swiss line from March 11 is that airspace is blocked only to parties and allies in the war (i.e. not Canada), allowing a NATO member (i.e. Canada) to transport weapons at this time could lead to tricky questions. However, as the other two ministries considered the request – before bringing it up at cabinet yesterday – the foreign ministry in the meantime had already discreetly asked the Canadians to withdraw the request, which they did. Is that the end of it? Probably not: as well as causing disagreements between the different Swiss ministries involved, the manner of brushing the request under the carpet is also still causing confusion, the NZZ writes. Canada apparently wants an official answer on what Switzerland’s position is.
Intangible cows: Swiss summer grazing season up for new honour.
Swiss farmers who haul their cattle up and down the mountains according to the season will be happy to know that they might soon be part of a UNESCO heritage list. Today, the Federal Office for Culture saidExternal link it was presenting the Swiss “alpage” tradition as a candidate for a spot on the prestigious “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” list. The summer alpine grazing tradition, which involves rotating cattle to higher mountain prairies during the warmer months, is a living tradition dating from the Middle Ages, which is important to “transmit to future generations,” the culture office writes. UNESCO is not likely to make a decision before the end of 2023.
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