Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

The shores of Lake Geneva are set for an influx of iconic names this summer when the Montreux Jazz Festival holds its 58th edition in July. This and the other news of the day are in Thursday’s briefing from Switzerland.

Keystone / Valentin Flauraud

In the news: Montreux bonanza, juice use and health costs.

• The line-up for this year’s Montreux Jazz Festival was revealed today: festival staples Deep Purple will be joined by, among others, Alice Cooper, Massive Attack, Duran Duran, Sting, Dionne Warwick, Kraftwerk, and Raye. The festival will take place from July 5-20 this summer.
• Last year, Switzerland used 1.7% less electricity than in 2022, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy said today. The drop, which came despite a larger population, was due to more efficient appliances and standards, officials said. Domestic production of electricity also reached record levels.
• Healthcare costs in Switzerland rose by 2.5% in 2022 to reach CHF91.5 billion ($100.7 billion), the Federal Statistical Office said today. The big three areas for costs were hospitals (CHF32.6 billion), old-age homes (CHF14.5 billion) and doctors’ surgeries (CHF13.7 billion). The rise was below average for the last five years.

KEYSTONE / Anthony Anex

Wine trends: more white, more local, but overall less.

The trend continued last year: people in Switzerland drank less wine. More precisely, they drank 1,300,000 litres fewer, a drop of 0.5%, according to statistics today. Whether for health, religious, or simple taste reasons, wine – and alcohol generally – is falling out of favour. As for the wine that actually was drunk, two other trends were also confirmed: white wine is eating into the dominance of red (which still has 64% of the market); and Swiss-made wines are clawing back ground against foreign rivals (their market share climbed from 37% to 38.6% last year).

Interestingly, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports todayExternal link from Verona, where Italy’s major wine fair – featuring some 4,000 producers – took place this week. At “Vinitaly”, which the NZZ describes as something of a window into the soul of the nation, similar issues came up: falling consumption (and a trend towards de-alcoholised wines) and a rise in the popularity of white and sparkling (due to the popularity of “apéritif” culture). While this latter shift is seen benignly, the former is controversial: are non-alcoholic wines up to the standards of “La Dolce Vita”?

Keystone

Radicalisation in Switzerland: a youth issue?

A reportExternal link by the Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism (GRA) recently revealed that reported cases of discrimination and hate speech rose by 50% in Switzerland in 2023. It also identified “Junge Tat”, a youth group with extreme right-wing views and suspected connections to the youth wing of the Swiss People’s Party, as a threat. And as the Federal Intelligence Service reminds us, extremism is also a problem on the left; while the recent arrests of various teenagers with suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) have raised questions about the jihadist radicalisation of youths, especially online.

What do you think? Read about radicalisation and join the debate about how to tackle it in this week’s edition of “dialogue”.