Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
“Quiet night in Blatten” has been one of the most frequently used headlines in the Swiss press in recent days. Today something else had to be written to describe the situation in the Valais village evacuated last weekend due to the risk of landslides. This afternoon a huge mass of debris and ice hit the village.
We'll also talk about possible peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, military service and the decisions announced today by the government.
Enjoy the read!
Could a meeting between Russia and Ukraine to negotiate peace between the two countries be held in Geneva? Some indications suggest that this could be the case.
Swiss public broadcaster, RTS, quotes the US special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, who said on the American Fox News channel: “If a place has to be chosen, it is in Geneva that a hypothetical meeting between Presidents Trump, Putin and Zelensky could be held. We wanted to go to the Vatican, but the Russians didn’t want to.”
Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Nicolas Bideau said that after the conference held in Switzerland on the Bürgenstock there had been a stalemate, but now all sides were beginning to think about peace again. “And Switzerland has a card to play,” he said.
This card could be the diplomat Gabriel Lüchinger, the former architect of the Bürgenstock meeting who is currently the only Western representative at a security summit in Moscow. “This is no accident,” Bideau said.
Fearing a shortage of soldiers, the Association of Swiss Military Societies (ASM) is calling for the reintroduction of the exam of conscience, a practice used to assess the incompatibility with military service of those who, out of personal conviction, choose the alternative of civilian service.
The exam of conscience was replaced in 2009 by the so-called deed test. Opting for community service, which lasts one-and-a-half times longer than military service, is considered sufficient proof. But in this way avoiding military service has become too easy, according to the ASM, which denounces the loss of “an entire brigade every year”. Around 7,000 young people choose civil service annually.
The defence ministry predicts there could be a shortage of soldiers by 2030. Several legislative changes are currently being discussed in parliament to make community service less attractive.
However, according to Luca Dahinden, secretary general of the civil service federation CIVIVA, the ASM idea is not viable. “There would be fewer people who would want to do community service,” he says, and it would revert to a situation where conscientious objectors would be bullied in the army or avoid conscription by presenting medical reasons.
Among the most important decisions taken by the government today, one concerned the employment rate of Ukrainian refugees, two involved animal welfare and another was about economic relations with the US.
Switzerland wants to find a solution to the customs tariffs imposed by Washington by July 9, when the additional country-specific duties decided by the Trump administration, which are currently suspended, are due to come back into force. To achieve this goal, the government has approved the dispatch on a draft “mandate for negotiations on trade and economic issues with the US”, which will now go to consultation.
The government also wants at least 50% of Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people with S-status in Switzerland for at least three years to be integrated into the labour market by the end of 2025. Currently, the percentage is 38%. Therefore, from 2026, cantons that are far from the target (more than five percentage points below it) will be obliged to take additional measures to promote the employment of these people.
The first decision announced today on animal welfare concerns food. In future, it will have to be indicated whether food comes from animals that have undergone painful treatment without anaesthesia. The most obvious example is foie gras, produced by force-feeding geese. A pending popular initiative wants a ban on imports of foie gras.
The government has also proposed an indirect counterproposal to the initiative “Yes to a ban on the import of fur products obtained by inflicting suffering on animals”. According to the government, its proposal goes further, banning not only import but also transit and trade on Swiss territory, with the advantage of not requiring a constitutional amendment. Even before voters have had their say, however, the government has already issued an import ban that will come into force on July 1.
A large portion of the Birch glacier – above the evacuated Valais village of Blatten – broke away this afternoon. A mass of ice and debris reached the village.
At the time of publication of this article, information is still only fragmentary. According to regional authorities, what happened is probably the worst-case scenario.
In all likelihood, there was extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. A shock wave from the displacement of air was clearly felt and there was a momentary loss of electricity.
A first collapse had already occurred at 6pm yesterday, a second at 4am this morning. In both cases, ice, rock and snow debris did not reach the village.
Following these events, the cantonal government had declared a “special situation”. The population was asked to strictly follow the instructions of the authorities and not to enter the affected area, RSI reported.
Translated from Italian by DeepL/ts
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