two people embracing in front of a train with ukrainian colours

Switzerland Today

Hello from Switzerland,

Where the second anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine isn’t going unnoticed. This evening, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will speak about it at the UN; tomorrow, peace events are planned in Bern. SWI swissinfo.ch has marked the date with an article on the humanitarian challenge and a photo gallery about refugees in Switzerland. We'll be back with our next briefing on Monday.

This content was published on February 23, 2024 - 17:47

4 minutes

As part of the democracy team, I report on the dynamic relationship between citizens and their institutions in Switzerland and abroad. Born in Ireland, I have a BA in European Studies and MA in International Relations. I've been at SWI swissinfo.ch since 2017.

In the news: Swiss solidarity with Ukraine, two years on.

In the two years since the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Swiss Solidarity charity has financed 109 projects to the tune of CHF80 million ($90.8 million), it said today. Projects have mostly focused on repair work to buildings and infrastructure, as well as individual aid. The charity spoke of an “unprecedented wave” of donations.
Despite the rising popularity of digital alternatives, cash remains the most widely accepted payment method for customer-facing businesses such as shops and restaurants, the Swiss National Bank said today. Some 92% of companies which operate face-to-face businesses in Switzerland accept cash, while just 59% accept payment via apps, the SNB said.
The trend of rising representation of women on management boards has stalled somewhat, according to recruitment agency Guido Schilling. Of the 100 largest Swiss employers, the majority have a single woman in top management, while almost one in four still has none, Schilling said in a report. As of 2031, a minimum quota of 20% will apply to all listed companies.

tv cameras — KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / MICHAEL BUHOLZER

Doctored documentary: SRF journalist makes it big in Russia.

Here at SWI swissinfo.ch, and especially in this briefing, we often do readers the service of scouring the Swiss media to find decent articles which we then summarise or curate. In doing so, we also do our best to communicate the sense of the original article accurately. Over at Russia’s state media, however, journalists are reportedly having trouble with this latter point: Swiss public television SRF wrote this week that one of its documentaries has been picked up and recycled by Russian television – in a rather selective manner.

The original two-part documentaryExternal link followed journalist Christoph Franzen on a journey through Russia to talk to people about daily life. Franzen spoke with many: some told him of their support for the war (“Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are all one nation – but we were divided”); others revealed their dismay with sending soldiers “to be slaughtered and to kill in turn”. However, SRF writesExternal link, in Russian TV’s report about the documentary, critical voices and nuance are removed: what’s left is “shortened, falsified, and misused”.

The Russian version portrays Franzen as a journalist with classic prejudices: he expects to find merely “barbarism, stupidity and drunkenness” in Russia. However, he apparently finds just friendly, hard-working patriots – i.e. the ones Russian TV chose to show. Franzen and other journalists are not surprised: “Russian authorities [and embassies] follow western media closely,” said SRF’s David Nauer. When something strikes them, it is “sent to Moscow and used for propaganda”. The one silver lining for Franzen: he managed to secure a “prime-time” slot on Russian TV.

Swiss vote information: clogging up recycling centres in Lucerne.

(Reliable) information is the backbone of democracy, we journalists never tire of reminding people. But how much information is too much? Voters in Horw, canton Lucerne, might have an opinion: ahead of local ballots on March 3, authorities have sent each of them an info booklet (or rather “book”) of almost 200 pages. Given that there are 10,386 voters in the municipality, that means overall two million pages, six tonnes of paper, and much, much dense information to digest – about a proposed land zoning reform – Blick reportsExternal link.

Over in Zurich, meanwhile, some campaigners might see Horw’s problem as a luxury one. Opponents of a plan to lengthen runways at Zurich airport (also up for vote on March 3) say their position was not properly outlined in the info booklets sent to citizens; their arguments were changed and considerably shortened, they claim. After a rebuff by cantonal authorities, they took their case to the federal court, which on Wednesday rejected a request to postpone the vote – it’s too last-minute for such a step, judges said. However, the Keystone-SDA news agency reports, the court will yet issue a verdict on whether the information sent out was adequate.