Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
This weekend will be a big deal for you, as the 99th edition of the Swiss Abroad Congress is taking place in St Gallen. If you’re interested in e-voting options for October’s elections, declining number of families hosting Ukrainian refugees and a “fragrance” to protect sheep from wolves, then keep reading.
But first, let’s take a look at today’s news stories.
In the news: Nazi-linked bank accounts, Switzerland’s most expensive hospital and Basel bishopric admitting mistakes in sexual abuse cases.
- An investigation published by lawmakers in the United States claims that Credit Suisse did not review all available records during its probe into bank accounts held by Nazis in the decades after the Second World War.
- After nine years of work and planning, the new main building of the Inselspital, the University Hospital Bern, was officially inaugurated yesterday. It’s the most expensive hospital in Switzerland.
- The bishopric of Basel has admitted that it made procedural errors in its handling of a case of alleged sexual abuse. “This is a failure that must not be repeated,” said Bishop Felix Gmür on Friday.
The Swiss Abroad congress kicks off: will e-voting boost turnout rate?
The 99th edition of the annual Swiss Abroad Congress is taking place over the weekend at the University of St Gallen. With around 400 participants from all around the world, speeches and discussions about current affairs, business and citizenship, one topic will surely animate the debate: e-voting.
Since the Swiss government announced the decision of carrying out an e-voting trial during October’s federal elections, people in Switzerland and abroad have been discussing the pros and cons of the idea. While the president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), Filippo Lombardi, defined it as a “gift”, the Swiss Freedom Movement launched a popular initiative calling for a ban on electronic voting for security reasons.
At the congress’s opening conference, Benedikt von Spyk, head of the chancellery in St Gallen, dismissed security concerns saying that hackers were not able to crack the new e-voting system during tests. However, although the previous e-voting trial in June resulted in a 70% decrease in late ballots, e-voting might not be enough to solve the problem of low turnout rate of the Swiss Abroad.
“E-voting is not enough to increase participation,” says OSA director Ariane Rustichelli. Many emigrants deliberately stay away from Swiss politics, while for others the barriers to participation are simply too high. This is why the OSA is now asking the Swiss government to anchor the improvement and promotion of political participation in the law.
Fewer Ukrainian refugees and Swiss host families: canton Aargau suspends Caritas project.
Today marks the 541st day of the war in Ukraine. Since Russia’s invasion Swiss families have hosted around 25,000 Ukrainian refugees in their homes.
This project was deemed a success by the Swiss Refugee Council (SRC) at the beginning of the year, but today the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)External link reports canton Aargau’s decision to suspend the project at the end of October. A year ago, Caritas Aargau was looking after 355 host families, while last July there were only 21 families available and 50 people seeking accommodation.
Lionel Walter from the SRC confirmed that the trend towards accommodating Ukrainians with host families was declining, also because the number of asylum requests from the country was decreasing and accommodation options were not as scarce as they were last year.
Elsewhere in Switzerland such projects have been extended to refugees coming from different countries, but Fabienne Notter, director of Caritas Aargau, told the NZZ that since Russia’s attack, host families only wanted to accommodate people from Ukraine.
Wolf attacks in Switzerland: a new ‘fragrance’ could protect sheep.
Attacks by wolves on sheep and other farm animals are increasing in Switzerland, but two researchers, Federico Tettamanti and Davide Staedler, might have the answer, Swiss public television, SRFExternal link, reported today.
If you’ve been wandering around the Swiss Alps this summer, you might have noticed some sheep with a grey box on their collar. This is no fashion choice, but rather Tettamanti’s idea to keep the cattle safe. He added artificially produced scents from wolves to the box, hoping to keep the predators away.
The box currently costs CHF25 ($28.40) and the test phase is underway in Switzerland and Italy, where a total of 657 animals are wearing this collar. So far only one animal has been attacked by a wolf in the tests. However, “it is not yet possible to say whether this will have an effect. We should not jump to conclusions,” said herdsman Marko Maitz.
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