Switzerland Today

Greetings from Zurich!

It turns out that comet C/2022 E3 embarks on a one-in-50,000-year pass of Earth from today. What are the chances of that happening in our lifetimes?

In the meantime, Switzerland is charting its own rare course during its debut on the UN Security Council. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will make a personal appearance in New York today.

But first, the other cosmic news of the day.

Keystone / Alessandro Della Bella

In the news: energy crisis averted, Swiss cocaine capitals and the SNB questioned:

• A warm, wet winter may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it has helped Switzerland avoid a potential energy crisis, says the Federal electricity watchdog.
• Four Swiss cities are among the top 10 in Europe for cocaine consumption per capita, writes the Blick newspaper. Wastewater samples lead to the conclusion that 80% of the white stuff is snorted by just a fifth of Swiss users.
• CNN recently revealed Swiss technology in rockets being used by Russia to pound Ukraine. But chipmaker u-blox told SRF that there’s not much it can do. Its GPS chips have been ripped out of cars and lawnmowers for use in these deadly instruments of terror.
• The Swiss National Bank says its losses prohibit a CHF6bn handout to cantons this year. But three economist who comprise the SNB Observatory independent monetary policy watchdog group wonder why cantons have taken the hit for a record CHF132bn annual loss at the central bank. This is particularly puzzling as the SNB has increased its reserve fund to cover foreign currency losses to CHF95.7bn.

© Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Cassis at the Security Council

Switzerland has rolled up its sleeves and made itself busy at the start of an historic two-year term on the United Nations Security Council.

As a non-permanent member, Switzerland has already brokered an agreement to extend humanitarian aid into war-torn Syria.

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis worked hard both at home and abroad to get Switzerland a Security Council seat.

So it must have been a significant personal moment for him to take part in a Security Council debate in New York today.

Switzerland says it will use its time on the powerful UN body to promote the rule of international law, protect citizens in conflict zones and ensure that humanitarian actors can get on with their work.

A more difficult nut to crack may be Switzerland’s desire to bring about reform at the Security Council, which includes tackling the veto right of permanent members that can halt proposals in their tracks.

Switzerland’s accession to the Security Council has not been greeted with enthusiasm by everyone at home, but some observers feel that a neutral country can make a difference with a seat at the high table.

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Speeding fine and no passport

Many foreigners living in Switzerland seize the chance to acquire a Swiss passport through naturalised citizenship. But the system occasionally throws up the odd glitch that leaves people scratching their heads.

The latest oddity involves a Frenchman who has lived in Switzerland for 40 years, running a successful business and building up a private fortune worth at least CHF100 million.

But he has apparently been denied a Swiss passport because of a speeding fine. In 2017 he was found guilty of driving through a construction site at 80 kmph – twice the speed limit.

Even the Supreme Court now thinks this is good enough reason to block citizenship – for now at least.

Rather than being banned from Swiss citizenship for life, the Frenchman was placed on probation to show he has what it takes to be a good Swiss citizen.

Once the probabtion ends later this year, he can re-apply for a Swiss passport.

In 2020, the Federal Court censured the authorities in Arth for refusing an Italian man a passport because he was failed a fairly obscure local knowledge test.

Two years earlier, a tri-lingual Brit complained that he was sidelined for failing to appreciate local culinary delicacies while a Dutch woman was rejected twice for being too politically active and a US professor rubbed his local selection committee up the wrong way after teaching in Switzerland for 40 years.

Put next to these cases, a criminal traffic violation appears to be a more concrete reason to suspend the naturalisation process.