Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Here are the latest news and updates from Switzerland on Friday.

Keystone / Anatoly Maltsev

In the news: EU’s Russian oil embargo taken over by Bern.

• The government today adopted the latest set of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine, including an embargo on crude oil imports and certain refined petroleum products. The authorities also imposed financial and travel sanctions on 100 further individuals – including Aleksandra Melnichenko, the wife of Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko. Russia supplies 0.3% of Swiss crude oil imports.
• Uber has reached an agreement with authorities in Geneva to resume operating. The taxis using the ride-sharing app had been at a standstill for a week, after the Swiss Federal Court upheld a ruling labelling Uber as an “employer” – with all the responsibilities that goes with that label. Drivers in Geneva will receive a minimum wage and insurance payments, Uber said today. The agreement only applies in that canton.
• The Boston Consulting Group’s annual Global Wealth Report has said that Hong Kong will “probably” overtake Switzerland by next year as the world’s biggest location for offshore wealth. Although the Swiss financial centre continues to grow, it is doing so at a slower rate than competitors. By 2026, the UK is likely to push Switzerland out of the top three financial centres in overall terms.

Keystone / Anthony Anex

After a shaky start, is Switzerland learning to love sanctions?

Switzerland is in sanctions overdrive. First there was the historic decision in February to follow EU sanctions on Russia, and the periodic takeover of EU measures since then (including today). Then there were the questions about how enthusiastically Switzerland is implementing these sanctions; is it turning a blind eye to the oligarchs squatting under its roof? (No, said a majority in parliament this week). There have been endless debates about the compatibility of neutrality and sanctions (“weapons”, say some conservatives); and only yesterday Switzerland was voted onto the UN Security Council – the body enforcing the sanctions of the global community. What’s next!

Now Switzerland might start imposing sanctions itself. Strangely, although the country can implement measures taken by the UN, the EU, or allies, the government in Bern can’t make any of its own; the Embargoes Act doesn’t allow it. Yesterday, however, the House of Representatives votedExternal link in favour of changing this – the government should be able to take unilateral action against states, companies, or individuals when the safe-guarding of Swiss interests is at stake, parliamentarians said. They even took the “radical” step (as Economics Minister Guy Parmelin called it) of including human rights violations as a justification for future measures.

Does this mean Bern will in future be imposing sanctions left, right and centre? Who is the next target? China? (The NZZ says the left-wing initiators of the law had the Uighur situation in mind.) This is difficult to say. SRF’s political correspondent writesExternal link that while the vote is a “guiding decision for Switzerland’s understanding of neutrality”, it would be up to the (often reserved) government to decide when to impose sanctions. What is clear, she writes, is that the vote is a sign of how quickly Swiss politics has changed since the Ukraine war: last year, the idea of unilateral sanctions was a political lame duck; now it has convinced a majority of one parliamentary chamber. The issue will pass over to the Senate for further debate.

Keystone / Eso/phangs Handout

Brown dwarfs and UFOs: Swiss space news.

Researchers from the University of Bern have discoveredExternal link four new brown dwarfs – “mysterious objects that straddle the line between stars and planets”. The dwarfs, difficult to find because not very bright, were spotted via the “Very Large Telescope” in Chile, alongside several other things: five low-mass stars and a white dwarf. The researchers hope to use the progress to help the discovery of giant exoplanets, they saidExternal link in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society”. Meanwhile: if they find any extra-terrestrials, they will have a compatriot to call: US-Swiss astrophysicist Thomas Zurbruchen is to lead an investigation into unidentified flying objects (UFOs), NASA has announcedExternal link. While it’s not clear how confident NASA is of finding anything alien, the project aims to destigmatise the whole question: “the scientific process is valid for tackling all problems, including this one”, Zurbruchen said.