Switzerland Today

Greetings from Bern,

Calling all Swiss musical hopefuls: beginning today and until August 22, singers, songwriters and producers can enter their song for a chance to represent Switzerland at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Since Nemo won this year’s edition, the country is guaranteed a spot in the final.

Aspiring music stars will find all the entry information hereExternal link. Good luck!

Kerystone / Ti-Press

In the news: An official complaint against the vote raising women’s retirement age, broad opposition to increasing the inheritance tax, calls to limit the damage of a strong Swiss franc to the country’s exporters, and criticism for the Swiss development agency.

• The Green Party is filing a complaint against the nationwide vote to raise the retirement age for women, which was narrowly accepted (50.5%) by the people in 2022. This comes in reaction to revelations this week of miscalculations in federal financial forecasts for the pension system.
• Roughly 67% of Swiss oppose a left-wing initiative to raise inheritance taxes on the wealthy in order to finance climate measures, says a new survey.
• Swissmen, the country’s biggest lobby group for manufacturers, is urging the Swiss National Bank to intervene to prevent the franc’s strength from hurting exporters.
• Twelve partner organisations of the Swiss development agency have criticised the agency’s decision to cut funding for cultural development programmes in low-income countries by a whopping 45%.

Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Did a Canadian in Geneva spy for China?

This is the question that Swiss authorities are trying to answer. On Thursday Tamedia newspapers publishedExternal link an investigative piece telling the story of “Bruce”, a 50-something environmental consultant working in Geneva who’s at the centre of an alleged espionage affair.

According to Tamedia, which worked with the German magazine Der Spiegel and the news site NK News, the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) became interested in Bruce in 2021. The FIS surveilled meetings he had with a female Chinese diplomat whom it had identified as a covert intelligence operative. At one meeting, the Chinese woman slipped Bruce an envelope that seemed to contain money, in exchange for a slip of paper.

In a twist, the FIS intercepted conversations between Bruce and the Chinese operative about – of all places – North Korea, China’s neighbour and ally. Bruce was knowledgeable about the reclusive regime, it turns out, having visited the country and hosted North Korean diplomats, including the country’s former ambassador to Switzerland, at his home.

Relations between North Korea and China don’t always run smoothly, Tamedia reports, which may explain why China would be interested in intelligence on Kim Jong-Un’s regime.

The affair culminated in Bruce’s arrest earlier this year on suspicion of spying for a foreign country. His detention is a rare occurrence in Switzerland. The last case of a foreigner accused of spying dates back to the late 1990s, says Tamedia.

But it also comes just months after revelations that a manager of a hotel owned by a Chinese family in Meiringen, canton Bern, was suspected of spying for China. This spring both chambers of the Swiss parliament approved a motion asking the government to start expelling foreign agents who engage in illegal spying, just like other European countries do.

It’s unclear, says Tamedia, when Bruce will appear before the Swiss courts. He risks a maximum three-year jail sentence and a fine for breaching the criminal code. For now he remains in preliminary custody.

Keystone

Is a ceasefire on the horizon for the people of Sudan?

Next week Switzerland will host talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire in Sudan, which has been engulfed in a civil war since April 2023. The bloody conflict between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fighting to gain control of power has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis. Patricia Danzi, who heads the Swiss development agency, just returned from a visit to the country.

She toldExternal link Swiss public radio RTS that she’d been particularly struck by the plight of those displaced from urban areas: “These people left their homes and their jobs. They are the engines of Sudan – its economy and its middle class, which are now missing.”

The basic needs of the displaced – like food and healthcare – are not being met, Danzi added. Since the war began, Switzerland has issued roughly CHF83 million ($96 million) in assistance, she pointed out, but aid groups have said this is not enough to help the millions of civilians affected by the fighting.

Switzerland is championing peace in Sudan and respect for international humanitarian law, Danzi said. If the talks set to begin in the Alpine nation next Wednesday lead to a ceasefire, “or even a step towards a ceasefire,” she said, “there’s a chance that fewer people will die and that we’ll be able to more easily reach the populations in need.”