Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Are Green Party politicians still allowed to fly? Neuchâtel Senator Céline Vara might not have asked herself this question before going on holiday in Oman, but the Swiss press certainly did at the weekend.
Since the government’s announcement last week that it would submit the new Switzerland-EU agreements to an optional referendum, reactions have been pouring in.
Criticism has come in particular from members of the Senate, whose role is to represent the cantons in the federal parliament, and sometimes directly from Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis’s own party. Senator Petra Gössi from the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party expressed her disappointment at the government’s decision.
In an optional referendum, a majority of the people is sufficient for the text to be adopted, without the majority of cantons, which is required in a mandatory referendum. The optional referendum therefore gives less weight to certain small cantons, typically those in Central Switzerland, which are traditionally eurosceptic.
The EU’s ambassador to Switzerland, Petros Mavromichalis, says that he has attended a number of negotiating tables and has been strengthened in his belief that the agreements are a win-win situation. In the current geopolitical context, he believes that solidarity between neighbours is all the more important. “The European Union will be there if there are any problems, but we obviously expect a return of the favour,” he told Swiss public television, RTS.
Today the House of Representatives began a special three-day session in Bern. On the first day, it adopted by 134 votes to 56 a bill explicitly introducing the principle of non-violent upbringing into the Civil Code.
As corporal punishment is already punishable under criminal law, the new standard is primarily preventive and symbolic. According to Radical-Liberal parliamentarian Philippe Nantermod, parents’ freedom to educate their children is not called into question.
The most important topic on the agenda remains the individual taxation of married couples, which has been occupying federal politicians for more than two decades.
Members of parliament will debate a counterproposal to a popular initiative by the women of the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party. This is the government’s recipe for ending tax discrimination against married couples, who currently pay more tax than cohabiting couples. The House of Representatives will also debate a new childcare allowance.
The chamber is still expected to vote on a motion calling for the recognition of foreign PACS (civil solidarity pacts), an issue that concerns some Swiss Abroad. For the time being, Switzerland does not recognise unions that do not go as far as marriage and do not entail changes to civil status, such as the PACS in France or Luxembourg.
The purpose of this special session is to allow one of the two chambers to examine matters that it didn’t have time to deal with during the ordinary session. Subjects of secondary importance therefore usually appear on the agenda.
Céline Vara, who vehemently defended the climate ruling against Switzerland by the European Court of Human Rights, is in a pickle. After her election to the Senate at the end of March, she chose to relax with her family in a luxury hotel in Oman. In addition to the lengthy flight required to get there, the country is not renowned for its respect for human rights.
Vara’s political opponents jumped at the chance. “As far as the Greens are concerned, we expect them to be exemplary when it comes to respect for the climate,” Francis Krähenbühl, president of the Neuchâtel Radical-Liberal Party, told Swiss public television, RTS. On Facebook, the president of the Neuchâtel Swiss People’s Party, Niels Rosselet-Christ, also called for exemplary behaviour.
For Jean-François Kerléo, professor of public law and specialist in political ethics at the University of Aix-Marseille, interviewed by Le Temps, society today expects perfect consistency between political demands and actions, This is not news, he said, but “over the past 15 years or so, we’ve seen a resurgence in ethical requirements”. Social networks are likely to play a key role here, he said: “They give immediate and massive visibility to missteps”.
Swiss bank UBS has introduced a new tool to monitor staff attendance at the office, Tamedia’s newspapers reported today. Against the backdrop of expected job cuts following the takeover of Credit Suisse, these measures are causing concern, particularly regarding their possible impact on bonuses.
Since March, staff at Switzerland’s largest bank have had to be in the office three days a week, including at least Monday and Friday. According to UBS, “spending enough time in the office with colleagues fosters innovation, collaboration and team productivity”.
Compliance with the new rules is closely monitored by the bank, which in April introduced a new tool called the “dashboard”, which displays the office attendance quota. Attendance is recorded via the access badge. Anyone who enters the building once has completed a day’s work.
However, the new system raises a number of problems and questions. For example, according to a bank employee interviewed by the newspaper, there are not enough seats and the teams are not seated together. What’s more, anyone who goes on holiday falls below the quota and then has to make up for it over the rest of the year. Last but not least, staff are concerned about the possibility of the quota being taken into account in the annual appraisal, which has a direct influence on bonuses.
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