Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern

which lost the seat of the Swiss government, at least temporarily. The government met in the renowned convent of Mustair in the Alps for a regular days’ work – and unlike many other people in Switzerland who currently enjoy their autumn holidays.

But first, here are some other news and stories from Switzerland on Wednesday.

Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

In the news: More money for old age pensioners, hefty fines for people breaking the ‘burqa ban’ and top universities.

• The Swiss government wants fines of up to CHF1,000 ($1,000) for people who break a ban on face coverings in public places. Parliament will have to consider the proposal to implement the so-called “burqa ban” proposed by right-wingers, which was passed in a referendum last year. It applies, also to masked football fans as well as a Muslim woman wearing a niqab.
• The nearly 2.5 million old age pensioners in Switzerland can look forward to a slight increase in their income next year following the government decision to help them cope with inflation. But trade unions criticised the hike as insufficient to make up for higher consumer prices and health insurance premiums.
• Once again, Switzerland’s federal technology institute ETH Zurich has been rated top university in continental Europe, according to the British Times Education magazine. Five other Swiss universities are among the world’s top 200, but Geneva University dropped out of the first 200 spots.

Keystone / Alexandra Wey

Piccard wants to fly around the world – by zeppelin

The Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard wants to do it again. He announced plans to circumnavigate the globe in a zeppelin. Together with fellow campaigners, he already travelled around the globe in a balloon (in 1999) and in a solar-powered aircraft (in 2015/16).

The zeppelin is to be 150 metres long and powered by renewable energies. Unlike the last circumnavigation, Piccard said in an interview with the Le Temps newspaper it was not primarily a technological challenge, but his concern about eco- anxiety. He plans to give speeches at schools and universities during stopovers, discussing with governments and companies and promoting inventiveness – to overcome the “serious collective depression”.

The trained psychiatrist – and Switzerland’s only astronaut – has identified eco anxiety as a new syndrome. By this he means people who, because of the state of the planet, do not want to have children and are no longer even motivated to work. It is therefore necessary to “wake people up” and show them that there are solutions to today’s problems. Piccard wants to take off with his zeppelin in three years.

© Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

Swiss government goes east

For a few hours on Wednesday, the seat of the Swiss government was moved to a village with a world-renowned convent on the eastern tip of the country, right on the border to Italy. It has become customary for the Swiss cabinet to meet regularly outside the capital, Bern and to mingle with the local population.

Mustair with its Convent of St John is part of the world’s heritage sites, nearly five hours away from Bern (it takes just over four hours to cross the whole of Switzerland by train from east to west, to give you an idea). The Mustair valley is a mountain region where Romansh – the fourth Swiss national language is spoken.

It’s not known whether the discussions among the cabinet ministers were held in Romansh to honour the local language (highly unlikely) but there is enough photographic evidence of the festive atmosphere in the mountain village. And decisions by the executive taken in such a pictures environment are bound to be of superior quality, according to some voices.