Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
We lost an hour over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean there’s any less news from Switzerland to share with you today.
This Monday’s briefing opens with an interview with the head of the Swiss embassy in Myanmar, following the earthquake that shook the region on Friday.
Tomorrow, Martin Pfister officially takes over the defence ministry, and many of today’s headlines spotlight the mammoth challenges and issues he will inherit. Although he assumes office on April 1, the to-do list landing on his desk is no joke.
Sunny regards from Bern,
Switzerland has submitted an offer of humanitarian aid to the Myanmar embassy in Geneva, said Daniel Derzic, head of the Swiss embassy in Myanmar.
This includes support in the areas of water supply, medical care, and emergency shelter, said Derzic to Swiss public television, SRF. In addition, Swiss experts and relief supplies could be deployed to the country.
Myanmar’s ongoing civil war is complicating the delivery of aid, Derzic explained. “Unfortunately, humanitarian access is also partly politicised. When an area is controlled by various actors, access becomes significantly more difficult.” Nonetheless, he reaffirmed Switzerland’s commitment to offering help wherever it is needed.
The embassy has been in contact with Swiss nationals in Myanmar and, so far, there have been no reports of injuries among the Swiss community.
Does Switzerland still need an army chief? Some military circles and the Swiss People’s Party think not.
“A return to the old model with broader leadership is a serious option for me,” said Stefan Holenstein, president of the Swiss Association of Military Societies, in the SonntagsZeitung. In Holenstein’s view, “a general as commander-in-chief only makes sense in the event of war”.
No doubt incoming Defence Minister Martin Pfister has already given some thought to the structure and functioning of his department, which has been plagued by resignations and criticism. In a recent interview, Pfister described the departures of personnel as “an opportunity to rethink the organisational structure”.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party has long advocated for the abolition of the army chief role, seeing it as overly politicised. Switzerland’s fifth and most recent army chief, Thomas Süssli, stirred controversy when he described the position as the “hinge between politics and the army”.
But not everyone agrees. Franziska Roth, a senator from the left-wing Social Democratic Party, insists that in today’s geopolitical climate, Switzerland’s armed forces “need a head, and that position needs to be strengthened”.
Regardless of the debate, the post is not going away any time soon. One of Pfister’s first tasks will be to name a successor to Thomas Süssli. The army chief role was only established in 2004.
Martin Pfister will not only inherit the Swiss armed forces but also oversight of civil defence and cyber security – the latter was brought into the defence ministry’s fold under his predecessor Viola Amherd.
Switzerland’s civil defence system has remained largely under the radar during the many headlines made by the defence ministry, but, as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) writes, modern global conflicts have shown the importance of a country’s civil defence.
Hanspeter von Flüe, head of the Bern cantonal office for civil protection told the NZZ that following the department’s reorganisation in 2021, it has “never achieved its hoped-for and announced performance”, instead describing the results a “brain drain” for the department.
Patrik Reiniger, vice president of the cantonal civil defence officers, was even more blunt: “We would barely be able to protect the country in the event of war. We are not prepared.” He argues that a robust military is not enough – civil protection must also be strengthened.
A 2024 emergency simulation carried out by federal and cantonal authorities produced a less-than-desirable outcome: cooperation between the authorities failed, and federal leadership was deemed inadequate and confusing, said Reiniger.
Another troubled department is landing on Pfister’s lap: the National Cyber Security Centre.
Although in 2022 Amherd argued that cyber defence was part of population protection, the NZZ points out that no clear strategy is in place.
The reasons for this are multiple: the army lacks a solid legal framework to lead on cyber security; the office’s budget is minimal; and some security experts fear the closeness between the army and intelligence services could create conflicts of interest. A cross-party alliance supports raising the cyber office’s budget from its current CHF16.1 million ($18.25 million) to CHF31 million. Still, devising a viable, long-term cyber strategy will be one of the new defence minister’s many upcoming challenges
An increasing number of people in Switzerland are classified as “working poor”, with media describing the situation as precarious.
New figures from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show that the proportion of working poor rose from 3.8% to 4.4% in 2023. Particularly affected are individuals living alone, single-parent households with children, households with no employed members and people without further education.
Switzerland’s overall poverty rate remained stable at 8.1%. However, the rate for employed individuals (176,000 people) is at its highest in years. The Swiss aid organisation Caritas says “rapidly effective poverty policy” is needed.
The poverty line is based on the standards of the Swiss Conference of Welfare Organisations. In 2023, this meant a monthly income of CHF2,315 ($2,624) for a single person and CHF4,051 for two adults with two children.
The figures also show that 6.3% of the population had at least two types of payment arrears in the previous 12 months, and 5.5% were forced to forgo essential goods, services or social participation due to financial constraints.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
