Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
It’s a day of Franco-Swiss friendship: in Paris, a court has ordered a review of a massive fine previously levelled against UBS, while in Bern, Emmanuel Macron has arrived for the first French state visit in eight years. Bonne lecture!
In the news: UBS victory, swollen rivers, and state surveillance.
- A top French court ruled today in favour of a re-examination of the €1.8 billion (CHF1.7 billion) fine handed to UBS in 2021, after the bank helped wealthy French clients stash undeclared funds in Swiss accounts. Judges said a lower court must look at the case again and issue a new ruling; a previous repeal already slashed the penalty from an initial €4.5 billion.
- After heavy rain swept over Switzerland in the past days, many towns and cities faced flood threats and swollen rivers on Wednesday. In GenevaExternal link, the Arve recorded its highest ever volumetric flow, more than 1,000 cubic metres per second. Several bridges over the river were closed. In Basel, the Rhine also reached record levels, and river traffic was interrupted.
- The Swiss government has amendedExternal link data rules in order to be better able to follow up on incidents like anonymous bomb threat calls. The move will also help to more quickly locate people at risk during emergency searches. Under the plans, service providers like Whatsapp, Threema or Signal will not be forced to lift encryption for state surveillance purposes.
Good neighbours? Macron starts eagerly-anticipated Swiss visit.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Switzerland on Wednesday for a two-day state visit. After being welcomed by his Swiss counterpart Alain Berset at Bern-Belp airport in the early afternoon, Macron made his way to the capital’s parliament square, where he was received with military honours by the seven members of the governing Federal Council – and by a crowd of onlookers and handshake-hunters.
At the time of writing, the French and Swiss presidents were making speeches in the parliament building before political talks were due to begin. On the menu: bilateral and cross-border relations, research and innovation, security and prosperity, and current international affairs. This presidential visit is the first since 2015: but while it marks a warming of Franco-Swiss relations after a frosty few years, it’s unlikely to result in sensational announcements, according to specialists.
On Thursday, Macron will be in Lausanne and Geneva, where he is due to visit the University of Lausanne and CERN.
Opaque material: court ruling on gold deals blow to NGOs.
The Swiss Federal Court today turned down the request by a Swiss NGO for access to detailed data on the origin of imported gold. The Bern-based Society for Threatened Peoples, which has campaigned to end illegal gold mining in Brazil, saw its request denied by judges on the grounds of tax secrecy rules around VAT on imports. The decision marks a “stinging setback for advocates of greater transparency in the gold sector, and a win for [Swiss] refiners protective of their business secrets”, SWI swissinfo.ch’s Dominique Soguel writes today. Read her full report here.
Blank votes and many stats: government ratifies ‘election report’
Things don’t always move slowly in Switzerland. Today, less than a month after the October 22 elections, the government ratified a 480-page report on the outcome of the vote for the House of Representatives. What this ratification entails is more a formality than a revolution: the RSI broadcaster writesExternal link that the report is a detailed document of “all the results obtained by all lists and candidates in all cantons, verified by the Federal Chancellery” – i.e. the final compendium of what happened on the day.
An official press releaseExternal link didn’t reveal much we didn’t already know: more candidates stood for election this year than in 2019 (5,909 vs 4,645); more of them were women (40.8% vs 40.3%); less of these women were ultimately voted in (38.5% vs 42%); and the overall voter participation rate rose (46.7% vs 45.1%). Perhaps the most interesting nugget was an increase in the number of blank/invalid ballot papers – these climbed from 29,000 in 2019 to almost 41,000 in 2023. Authorities say they don’t yet know why.
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