Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
After drought-like conditions this winter, the weather appears to be returning to normal. It’s been raining on and off for several days.
While some people are unhappy about the wet weather, the good news is that heavy rainfall has refilled many of Switzerland’s rivers and lakes.
Read on for more news and stories from Switzerland.
In the news: future rockfall, rivers and rain, Credit Suisse and UBS and animal testing.
- Residents of Brienz/Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland have been told to leave their homes by 6pm on Friday. A rock volume of two million cubic metres is moving so fast that it is expected to break loose in the next one to three weeks, the local authorities said today.
- Swiss bank Credit Suisse will continue to function under its own name as a separate subsidiary of UBS in the first phase of the takeover process, it has been announced. UBS said the legal takeover of its main domestic rival will be completed “in the next few weeks”. But Credit Suisse clients will see little difference “for the foreseeable future”.
- The water levels of many rivers and lakes in Switzerland are high again thanks to recent heavy rains. This follows a period of lower-than-usual rainfall during winter.
- Swiss people significantly overestimate the success of resuscitation after cardiacarrest, according to a study. Medical experts are therefore calling for better information for patients.
- Opponents of animal experiments are not giving up. A little over a year after the huge rejection of the popular initiative to ban animal and human experimentation, the same opponents are launching a new animal testing ban initiativeExternal link which they claim is “more moderate”.
- The merger of Swiss flavour maker Firmenich and Dutch specialty chemicals firm DSM was confirmed today. The new company, known as dsm-firmenich, will focus on nutrition, health and beauty products, and have a combined staff of 30,000.
Swiss soldiers participate in one of Switzerland’s largest military exercises in over 30 years.
The LUX 23 military exercise, which took place from May 1-9, involved 4,000 troops in cantons Geneva, Bern, Vaud and Neuchâtel.
During the drills, planned since 2021, soldiers rehearsed repelling a fictional enemy. It took place as the country’s role in European defence has come into focus amid calls for it to help Ukraine in fighting the Russian invasion. Public and international pressure have grown for Switzerland to end a ban on exports of weapons to war zones.
The LUX 23 drills were not organised in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, but the Swiss military said it made the exercise all the more relevant.
“The willingness of our partners and the understanding of the population regarding this kind of drill that has greatly changed,” said Mathias Tuscher, commander of Switzerland’s Territorial Division 1. “This, of course, is directly linked [to the war in Ukraine].”
Western Swiss cities join forces to protest train timetable changes.
Changes to the new 2025 train timetable announced by the Swiss Federal Railways last Friday aimed at bringing “more stability and punctuality” while enabling construction works in the next few years are causing consternationExternal link among officials in parts of western Switzerland.
Seven towns and cities in western Switzerland have joined forces to protestExternal link a “two-speed” nationalrailway network. Yverdon, Neuchâtel, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Geneva, Biel/Bienne, Delémont and Morges, have written to the federal authorities to revise their plans.
Among the biggest changes, the federal railways wants to cut the Jura-Geneva direct service between Basel, Biel/Bienne, Neuchâtel and Geneva for a ten-year period due to construction work. It proposes a detour and change via Lausanne.
The frequency of trains between the Jura region and Lausanne will be doubled, but the disadvantages outweigh the advantages in the eyes of critics. The change will have a major impact on passengers travelling to Geneva or Geneva Airport from the Jura region, they say. Critics ask whether the federal railways and federal authorities are serious about national climate targets as such a change risks encouraging greater use of cars in certain western regions.
In a statement yesterday, the federal railways said it would meet the municipalities concerned and the management of Geneva Airport in the coming weeks for talks.
Organic farming continues to grow in Switzerland.
The number of farms in Switzerland continues to slowly fall – down by 550 to 48,344 last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office. External linkFarms covered 1,042,000 hectares and employed 149,600 people, with more and more farms (7.2%) being run by women.
Smaller farms under 30 hectares are the ones most likely to disappear; the number of farms with 30 hectares or more, on the other hand, increased. On average, a farm cultivated 21.6 hectares.
At the same time, organic farming appears to be going from strength to strength. Last year there were 7,819 such farms in Switzerland, 149 more than the previous year. It was particularly popular in western Switzerland. The average area of an organic farm was 23.8 hectares.
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