Switzerland Today

This content was published on May 23, 2024 - 18:00

4 minutes

Originally from Ireland, Domhnall worked in research and writing in a couple of European countries before joining swissinfo.ch in 2017. He covers direct democracy and politics and is usually in Bern.

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Hello from Bern, where it’s been rainy and chilly – which means it’s been snowy and cold in the nearby Alps. There are winners and losers from this: on the positive side, figures published today show that snow coverage on Switzerland’s 1,400 glaciers is around 31% thicker than normal heading into the summer season. This means that after two years of severe ice losses, this summer might be less drastic. If the summer ever starts…

In the news: fighter jets, stressed workers, happy cellist.

Swiss fighter jets will practice taking off and landing on the country’s biggest motorway on June 5, the army confirmed today. The plans, a throw-back to Cold War exercises, come as war in Europe has spurred the forces to boost capabilities.
The proportion of stressed employees in Switzerland has increased by 5% over ten years, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said today. In 2022, 25% of women and 21% of men said they usually or always experienced stress at work.
The cellist Sol Gabetta has landed the prestigious Swiss Grand Prix Music, worth CHF100,000 ($109,551). Gabetta, originally from Argentina and now living in Aargau, is one of the best-known cellists of our time, the Federal Office of Culture said.

swiss passport — Keystone / Christian Beutler

Swiss citizenship gets harder to get, for some

In a country with a history of immigration, and where a hefty 25% of the population is made up of non-citizens, any change to naturalisation rules is bound to be contentious (or rejected, as the case often was in Swiss history). In 2018, Switzerland overhauled the procedures for becoming a citizen for the first time in decades: a legal framework was given to something which before could be arbitrary and based on local whims; new guidelines were issued on the minimum requirements for citizenship; and a new focus was placed on candidates’ level of “integration”.

Today, a study was published by the Federal Commission on Migration giving statistics to show the concrete impact of the law. While the level of naturalisations has remained (fairly) stable, the system has become considerably more selective: in the first few years of its implementation it strongly favoured university graduates and people in a more stable financial and legal situation, the study found. People without the necessary skills in a Swiss language found the new system a challenge, as did people without the necessary C permit conferring permanent residency.

The figures put context on what some researchers and activists have been complaining about for some time – that the Swiss naturalisation procedures are getting more exclusive, even as (or because) the number of foreigners in the country continues to rise. But what does it mean for society when more and more people are not full members of it? Or, if the current trend continues, is it desirable to live in a society mainly made up of well-to-do university graduates? To read more about the new study, here’s our article published today, and to read about “how to become Swiss”, here you go.

protest grafitti — Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Dialogue: is polarisation more than a buzzword?

Polarisation has been the flavour of the day for some years. Ever since Brexit, Trump, Covid-19, Gaza, etc., we are all – especially in western democracies – now divided into loud, irreconcilable and most importantly opposing camps. Apparently. As to whether it’s a case of multipolarity or bipolarity, that’s difficult to say; but judging by much of the debates, it looks as if the good old human instinct for dualism has won out – most of the time, “polarisation” means a conflict divided nicely down the middle.

In Switzerland, polarisation has traditionally been tempered by a boring political system based on compromise and majority solutions. Has this also saved the country from recent upheavals? A new study by the University of Basel says yes: “emotional polarisation” has not increased over the past two decades, it says. Switzerland – despite seeing dropping levels of trust in political institutions – is still faring quite well: “democratic conflict resolution mechanisms still seem to work”, it says. To read more on this, and to have your say, have a look at this week’s edition of our “Dialogue” platform.