Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Heavy snowfalls are expected on Thursday, especially in northern Switzerland – cantons Aargau, Zurich, Thurgau and St Gallen – followed by a spell of icy rain… brrrrrrr. We’re staying warm with soup, woolly jumpers and glühwein.
Read on for more news and other stories from Switzerland.
In the news: new replacement at Abbey of Saint-Maurice, farmers’ incomes, gambling and Hamas financial taskforce.
- Switzerland has joined an international taskforce, which brings together twelve countries includes the United States, Britain and Israel, aimed at countering the flow of money to the militant Palestinian group Hamas and supporting anti-terrorism efforts.
- All flights using PC-21 aircraft have been suspended in Switzerland following an accident on Tuesday afternoon at a military air base in central Switzerland involving a training plane.
- The Vatican has appointed a new head of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice (photo above) in canton Valais. The prestigious Catholic institution has been embroiled in sexual abuse allegations involving priests. Jean-Michel Girard, who was a senior cleric (provost) for Grand St Bernard, takes over from Abbot Jean Scarcella and the interim head Roland Jacquenoud.
- The Swiss Farmers’ Union has warnedExternal link about “worrying” fallingfarming incomes (-6% for the 2021-22 period). It has criticised cuts in the federal agricultural budget (-2.5% for 2026-29) and increasing demands on farmers such as reducing the use of pesticides and preserving biodiversity.
- The government wants to eradicatenew infections with the AIDS virus (HIV) and hepatitis B or C in Switzerland by 2030. To this end, the Federal Council has adopted the programme “Stop HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C virus and sexually transmitted infections (NAPS)”.
- The federal government has given the greenlightExternal link to gambling licences for the 2025-2044 period: a total of 22 casinos and 12 online casinos can operate in Switzerland. The overall landscape has not changed much, but the number of online casinos is the highest since the new gambling law came into force in 2019.
President Alain Berset expresses surprise at ‘unfounded’ criticism by Swiss Jewish group.
Swiss President Alain Berset toldExternal link Swiss public television RTS on Tuesday that he was “very surprised” and “upset” by recent criticism by the head of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, Ralph Lewin, that he had not firmly condemned the recent rise in anti-Semitism.
The NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday that Lewin had sent Berset a letter expressing his disappointment that the Swiss president had appeared silent in the face of the increase in anti-Semitic acts in recent weeks.
Initially, Berset did not react to his letter. But RTS said the interior ministry issued a statement on Sunday evening declaring: “Federal President Berset has publicly condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks on several occasions since October 7. He has also firmly condemned on several occasions the rise of anti-Semitism and racism.”
It also highlighted the many occasions Berset had condemned the attacks, expressed his solidarity with the Israeli people, urged them to fight against anti-Semitism, through awareness-raising in training places, and condemned the rise of racism and anti-Semitism.
In an interview with RTS, Berset said he was “very very surprised and very upset by these criticisms”, which he found “unfounded”. He described the rise in anti-Semitism as “unbearable”.
Since October 7, the Intercommunity Coordination against Anti-Semitism and Defamation (CICAD) has recorded 250 anti-Semitic acts in French-speaking Switzerland.
The Swiss state will continue to guarantee Covid-19 vaccines until the middle of 2024.
The Federal Council has decided to extend this planned provision until the end of this year to maintain easier access to Covid-19 vaccinations.
They still offer goodprotection against serious forms of the disease, hospitalisations and deaths, the government said today. This is a central element in preventing vulnerable people from developing complications.
The costs of vaccinations are covered by compulsory healthcare insurance, and the federal government and the cantons. From mid-2024, the centralised state acquisition and distribution system will give way to ordinary private market structures.
But the government will no longer finance the costs of vaccinations administered in pharmacies from 2024. It believes that family doctors’ offices, hospitals and vaccination centres constitute a sufficient offer.
This autumn/winter, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Federal Commission for Vaccinations (FCV) have recommended that vulnerable people get vaccinated against Covid-19. This includes people over 65, those aged 16 and over with a pre-existing illness or Down syndrome, and pregnant women with a pre-existing illness. The coronavirus continues to circulate and can cause a severe form of Covid-19 in vulnerable people, they said on September 11.
No official vaccination recommendations are made for other groups of people. In the absence of risk factors, the probability of developing a serious form of the disease is low, FOPH says. However, vaccination is still possible against payment.
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