Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Switzerland retains a highly positive image among people abroad, according to the latest survey by the foreign ministry’s agency Presence Switzerland. But the foreign press are much more critical, especially about Swiss neutrality.
Read on to find out more about this story and what else has been going on today.
In the news: BAT cigarette factory closes, Credit Suisse, Nazi salutes and renewables in the Alps.
- British American Tobacco (BAT) will close a cigarette manufacturing factory at Boncourt in north-western Switzerland (photo above) next year and lay off the 220 employees working there, it has been confirmed. It has been producing Parisienne cigarettes there for over 130 years. Losing its biggest tax-payer will have a majorimpact on the region, the Jura government says.
- Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer is confident that Credit Suisse’s turnaround efforts will succeed. Switzerland needs two big banks, he toldExternal link Swiss public TV, SRF.
- Displaying a Nazi symbol or making a Nazi salute in public is not always a crime in Switzerland. The authorities now say it’s possible to ban such symbols or gestures but such a change would encounter “major legal and editorial obstacles”.
- Despite the threat of an energy shortage in winter and high electricity prices, installing renewableenergy infrastructure like solar panels or wind turbines in pristine high Alpine regions remain a taboo issue for the Swiss public, a new survey revealsExternal link.
- A major prisoner of war swap deal is a “possibility” in the Ukraine-Russia war, Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) toldExternal link reporters. The former Swiss diplomat who took on the role in October, was speaking days after returning from a trip to Ukraine.
Swiss central bank hikes interest rate to counter ‘spread of inflation’.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB)increased its benchmark interestrate on Thursday for the third time this year, taking it to 1%, and warned of “significant macroeconomic uncertainties” in 2023.
The SNB said it was raising its benchmark interest rate to counter “increasedinflationarypressure and a further spread of inflation”. Switzerland’s inflation rate remained steady at 3% last month, having dropped from a three-decade high of 3.5% in August. This is below the soaring rates of neighbouring European countries but it remains well above the SNB’s target of 0-2% and is expected to remain elevated.
The central bank says it fears price pressures are becoming more entrenched in some areas of the economy and warned of significant “macroeconomicuncertainties” next year.
“It cannot be ruled out that additional rises in the SNB policy rate will be necessary to ensure price stability over the medium term,” the bank said in a statementExternal link.
The SNB revised its medium term inflationforecasts for Switzerland slightly upwards. “[The] new forecast . . . is attributable to stronger inflationary pressure from abroad and the fact that price increases are spreading across the various categories of goods and services in the consumer price index,” the bank said.
The bank expects an average annual inflation rate of 2.9% for 2022, 2.4% for 2023 and 1.8% for 2024.
Switzerland’s image abroad in 2022: press versus public
This year public perception of Switzerland in other countries was often more favourable than press coverage, according to the foreign ministry agency Presence Switzerland.
“As in previous years, the majority of people abroad continued to have stable and highly positive attitudes towards Switzerland,” it said. Presence Switzerland conducted its annual survey of Switzerland’s image abroad in 18 countries.
“Switzerland’s landscape, traditional products such as chocolate, cheese and watches, its financial services sector, a strong and stable economy, wealth and a high standard of living featured highly in people’s responses,” it saidExternal link.
However, the internationalmedia has been critical of Switzerland’s politicalneutrality in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a study of news headlines has found.
Switzerland was at first hesitant to apply sanctions to Russia but eventually mirrored those of the European Union. Despite criticising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Alpine state has insisted on a neutral stance. Switzerland has also faced negative headlines by refusing to allow the re-export of ammunition to Ukraine via Germany.
More column inches were devoted to the fate of struggling bank CreditSuisse and to the “Suisse Secrets” leak of sensitive bank data. Tennis star Roger Feder’s retirement and a planned radioactive waste dump near to the German border also drew strong reactions from the foreign media.
More
The mystery of the missing 800 kg ball of gin.
A mysteriousdisappearance is making the headlines: a large steel ball filled with gin, weighing 800 kilogrammes, that was sunk by its owners in LakeConstance in north-eastern Switzerland has gone missing. It is said to be worth CHF40,000.
The owner, an entrepreneur from Romanshorn, assumes it was stolen and has reported the incident to the local police.
The entrepreneur has been manufacturing local gin for three years. The alcohol is poured into a steel ball and then left in the lake for 100 days, where it supposedly acquires its special aroma.
The ball containing 230 litres of gin was fixed to a concrete base 23 metres underwater, 300 metres from the shore. But when divers went to retrieve it last week it had disappeared. The police are continuing their investigation.
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