Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The mild spring-like weather may be the perfect tonic to beat the winter blues. But the dry conditions are getting people worried, especially in southern Switzerland and just over the border in Italy, where it has not rained for weeks.
MeteoSwiss reports that over the past ten days temperatures are 5-7 degrees Celsius above the norm both in the central Plateau region and in the Alps. Let's hope the rain and cold return soon.
In the news: armed drones, Eurovision entry and Zurich demo.
- Switzerland needs to modernise its armed forces. Officials want to completely renew a third of the army by the end of the decade, according to Swiss army chief Thomas Süssli. Among the possible measures under consideration, the army is examining whether to buy armed drones, he said.
- Things are slowly gearing up for this year’s Eurovision and Switzerland has chosen its representative. Remo Forrer (in photo), a 21-year-old singer from eastern Switzerland, will represent the Alpine country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Liverpool. But you have to wait a few more weeks to find out what he will be singing.
- Switzerland joinedExternal link the US and six other teams in boycottingthe women’s amateur boxing world championships in New Delhi next month because athletes from Russia and Belarus will be present. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many sports organisations have moved events and suspended Russian teams or athletes, while sponsors have ended contracts in protests against the war.
- Around 1,000 people took part in a demonstration in Zurich at the weekend to protest against the city’s housing shortage and the police’s recent move to clear dozens of people from a long-standing squat in the Koch-Areal area.
Which Swiss companies are still operating in Russia?
A report this weekend examined a list that Yale University professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld started compiling just days after Russia invaded Ukraine that now contains over 1,300 companies and organisations around the world, including 53 Swiss entities, which have cut their ties with Russia since the war broke out a year ago.
A total of 18 Swiss businesses have exited Russia, the professor reports. These include firms like the industrial corporation ABB, cement manufacturer Holcim and oil trader Vitol.
At the other end of the spectrum are four Swiss companies that have not changed their strategy and continue doing business: the chemicals corporation Ems-Chemie, machinery manufacturer Liebherr, wood processor Swiss Krono and consumer goods trader Zepter.
Many Swiss companies have taken a nuanced approach to the Russian market. Fourteen have suspended operations in Russia but are keeping options open for an eventual return. Among them are watch manufacturers Swatch Group, Richemont and Rolex, commodities trader Glencore, and Zurich-based FIFA, world football’s governing body.
Nine other entities remain open in Russia with significantly downsized operations, such as banks UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Bär and the logistics giant Kühne + Nagel.
A fifth category of companies that have either halted new investments or limited their sales but otherwise continue to do business in Russia include eight from Switzerland: among them are pharma giants Roche and Novartis and food producer Nestlé.
A studyExternal link published in January by the UniversityofSt. Gallenand IMD Business Schoolsaid the overwhelming majority of EU and G7 firms operating in Russia have stayed put or have not completed any plans to divest. But the study has received criticism that it overestimates the number of companies that remain in Russia because of the methodology.
Switzerland, a nation of ‘ripped off’ tenants?
Switzerland has one of the lowest home ownership rates among the richest economies. Only around 40% of people own their own properties while the rest rent. This makes Switzerland an exception as the proportion of homeowners in Europe is routinely around two-thirds or more.
Swiss tenants are protected by laws that restrictlargerentalincreases, but increasing demand for apartments, especially in cities, continues to drive up rents.
On Monday, the Swiss Tenants’ Association complained that landlords are profiteering by ignoringrules that limit rent rises. It said unscrupulous property owners are swindling tenants out of CHF10.4 billion ($11 billion) a year in Switzerland. The advocacy group wants lawmakers to cap “exploding” rents that is says are squeezing people on low incomes.
Many Swiss dream of owning a single-family home in the countryside and passing it on to their children. But for most, this dream is increasingly unrealistic, as this article last year by my colleague Samuel Jaberg points out.
The implications of having a nation of tenants are widespread, as this other article last year outlines. It affects our everyday lives, the environment, politics, and the rights of tenants in many ways. But not always in the way we would expect.
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