Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

The chilly air temperature on my way to work this morning is a preview of what’s to come this winter if we all follow the environment ministry’s “energy saving tips” published yesterday. Swiss media react to the government's energy campaign and other news in today's briefing.

This content was published on September 1, 2022 - 18:00

5 minutes

I report on the Swiss pharmaceutical industry and healthcare topics such as access to medicine, biomedical innovation, and the impact of diseases like cancer. I grew up just outside San Francisco and studied international affairs with a focus on development economics and healthcare policy. Prior to joining SWI swissinfo.ch in 2018, I was a freelance journalist and a researcher on business and human rights.

In the News: One report, two arrests, and an extended moratorium.

The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva released the long-awaited report on the treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region in China. It found “credible evidence” of crimes against humanity including torture and sexual violence. However, it refrained from using the word genocide. It wasn’t just the contents of the report that caught the media’s attention though. It was the timing of its release, which happened a couple minutes before the end of UN human rights chief Michele Bachelet’s term.
Two suspected members of the Islamic State have been arrested in Switzerland as part of a series of coordinated police raids in western Switzerland. The two arrested suspects are being questioned by federal prosecutors who will decide on whether to lay charges and how long to keep the duo detained.
The Swiss financial regulator has extended a moratorium on transactions at the Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank group as it decides on its future course. The Financial Market Supervisory Authority imposed the measures in March to prevent the bank from paying out money to sanctioned creditors. They were partially lifted in July to allow payments to authorised creditors.
Inflation in Switzerland rose 3.5% in August compared to the same month last year, but this is still below that of many other countries. Rising energy and fuel costs are the main drivers of inflation – the annual rate of inflation was 2% in August when these factors are stripped out.

Leaving energy to “self-responsibility” sounds very familiar

The government’s energy savings announcement yesterday seems to have raised more questions than answers. For weeks, there’s been a barrage of warnings that we better start stocking up on firewood and candles because it could be a very cold winter if the gas shortages and price hikes continue. There’s even such outlandish ideas such as banning Christmas lights this year!

Many people were therefore puzzled when the government announced it was simply “urging” people to reduce their energy consumption and setting a “voluntary” gas savings target of 15%.

This laissez-faire attitude didn’t go unnoticed by Swiss media. Comedian Karpi posted an image of Swiss energy minister Simonetta Sommaruga on Twitter with the words – “The Return of the #EigenverantwortungExternal link” – translated to “self-responsibility”. For many people here, what immediately comes to mind is the Swiss response to another crisis – the Covid crisis. For months, the government didn’t require people to wear masks but relied on people’s “Eigenverantwortung” and let’s just say: we know how that worked out.

After the announcement, one business representative toldExternal linkLe Temps that the government left “huge uncertainties for businesses. They have no answers regarding the form of interruptions and their consequences on production”. There are some companies taking that self-responsibility seriously.

The government also offered tips for how to save electricity while cooking or taking a bath, which the NZZ called “banal” given the crisis were inExternal link. The Federal Council went from hobby virologist to hobby physicist wrote the headline. We could all use a “crash course” in physics, the paper says.

This isn’t the end of the discussion though. Supposedly, economics minister Guy Parmelin sent proposals for discussion that have “worst case scenario” written all over them. This include things like a temperature limit of 19 degrees if you heat your house with gas in the winter. Even then though, there would be no energy police who would enforce this. The Federal Council has fundamental trust in the population, writesExternal link the NZZ.

But for now, it’s all about Eigenverantwortung.

Covid’s linger effects take their toll on health

The worst phase of the pandemic is behind us or so we hope. Then why is everyone feeling so sick? That is the question many readers might be wondering when they read this story. According to a survey by one Swiss health insurance company, some 35% of respondents reported feeling under the weather in June compared to 27% last year and 25% in 2020.

What’s going on? More than half of the respondents felt coronavirus is still an ongoing health risk and 44% believe that the effects of Long Covid are underestimated.

“The pandemic has evolved from an acute and visible event into a chronic and insidious burden on public health,” says the report.

This isn’t just hypochondria though. There is growing evidence of Covid being much more than a respiratory disease. In fact, the Financial Times analysed data from the UK and found that rates of many conditions, such as heart failure and stroke, were substantially higher in people who had recovered from Covid than in similar people who had not been infected.

Add to this the fact that many people are still dealing with the emotional aftermath and the stress of dealing with all the hybrid working. It’s going to be a long haul.