Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Where the dog days have begun, but temperatures are in fact dropping, and rain (and storms; see photo above) is in order. Locals and tourists in Greece and southern Europe surely wish they could say the same.
In the news: burning Rhodes, ministerial popularity, and banking boon.
- Swiss tour operators and the government are helping Swiss holidaymakers in need on the Greek island of Rhodes. Tour operators are organising return flights to Switzerland, while the government has opened an information counter at the island’s airport, it was reported today. The island is the site of huge summer wildfires which have led to around 20,000 evacuations.
- A survey has shown that Defence Minister Viola Amherd and Interior Minister Alain Berset are the most highly regarded of the seven Swiss government ministers. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider are bottom of the list, Tamedia newspapers and 20 Minuten wrote today. Some 54% of the population is satisfied with the government as a whole.
- The Julius Bär bank announced positive results today, both in terms of profit and new client funds inflow. The bank’s CEO was coy about how much of the new money was a direct result of the fallout from the UBS takeover of Credit Suisse. But he did say the bank had benefited from the chaos – notably by recently hiring various client managers who used to work for UBS or Credit Suisse.
150 years of anarchy: Swiss town back in the thick of things.
Over 5,000 people from across the world gathered in the small Swiss town of Saint-Imier (population 5,200) until yesterday to celebrate anarchy. More specifically, they came to mark the 150th anniversary of a historic Congress that led to the foundation of the Anti-Authoritarian International Movement. From Wednesday to Sunday, 300 workshops, 48 concerts, and 42 film screenings were held to discuss anarchism – which is not so much about chaos but rather self-organisation and emancipation. Swiss public broadcaster, RTS, which was presumably expecting riots, saidExternal link it went off without “major incident” – although some trains were cancelled due to participants crossing the tracks. SWI swissinfo.ch had a journalist on site; stay tuned for his report.
100 years of the Treaty of Lausanne: a mitigated legacy.
A century ago today, the epilogue to the First World War was written in Switzerland when major powers met to decide the fate of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Over eight months, diplomats in Lausanne drew up the borders of Turkey, Greece, Syria, and Iraq – and discussed how to bring some peace to a turbulent region. The conference was a coup for Switzerland, which had been chosen due to neutrality and infrastructure reasons; for Middle East peace, however, the results were less glamourous, as Swiss public broadcaster, SRF, recently reported. Notably, the deal largely ignored the demands of the Kurdish population – who saw their hopes of an independent state after the First World War dashed. For the Kurds, the consequences of the “cursed” Treaty still echo today, Le Courrier reportsExternal link.
Flying the national nest: first check your finances.
For many people, moving to rich, safe, and temperate Switzerland is an (unattainable) dream. But many Swiss, according to newspaper Blick, want to wake up from the dream. More and more are jumping ship, the paper says – “for years, the number of those leaving has been higher than those returning”. But emigrating isn’t easy, especially financially. And so, to answer the important question – how to not get poorer by leaving – Blick turns toExternal link Ariane Rustichelli, the head of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). Her advice? Prepare in advance, rather than wait for a problem to arise (the OSA offers free legal advice and infoExternal link), and above all only move after having first sorted out “job, apartment and insurance”. And perhaps keep a toe back in the homeland – via some real estate or a bank account.
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