Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
On the eve of Swiss National Day, the inevitable debates around fireworks are all across the media. We’ll also take a look at the Swiss National Bank’s half-year results, a “bounty” on the Asian hornet in Basel, and Switzerland’s position on Palestinian statehood.
Enjoy the read, and happy August 1 celebrations!
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has slipped into the red, reporting a loss of CHF15.3 billion ($18.8 billion) in the first half of 2025.
Announcing the figures on Thursday, the SNB said the negative result was primarily due to the performance of its foreign currency holdings. The weak US dollar was a particular factor. At the end of March, before Donald Trump unveiled his tariff salvo, the dollar was worth just over CHF0.88; by the end of June, it was CHF0.79.
While a total loss of CHF22.7 billion was recorded on foreign currency positions, the SNB did manage to achieve gains of CHF8.6 billion on gold reserves, which remained steady in terms of overall quantity. Swiss franc positions, however, recorded a loss of CHF1 billion.
The SNB’s profits or losses depend mainly on the performance of gold, foreign exchange, and capital markets; they are thus subject to fluctuations which make it difficult to draw conclusions for the entire financial year, the institute pointed out.
Faced with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Canada is to follow France and recognise Palestinian statehood. Other countries are set to do the same. What about Switzerland?
“The Swiss position is clear: as soon as a credible peace process is established, we can consider recognising Palestine,” Monika Schmutz Kirgöz, head of the Middle East Division at the foreign ministry, told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.
“Switzerland believes that recognition of a Palestinian state is a prerequisite for lasting peace based on the two-state solution,” according to a foreign ministry statement after a high-level conference on the two-state solution in New York, where the country was represented by Schmutz Kirgöz.
“[The recognition] could be considered if concrete measures are adopted for its implementation, which guarantee both Israel’s security and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” the statement said.
Before 120 countries present in New York, Schmutz Kirgöz said that “the situation is unsustainable and we must act urgently”. She later told Italian-language public broadcaster RSI that “for months, since this humanitarian blockade has been in place, we and foreign minister Ignazio Cassis have been telling the Israelis that it is unacceptable”.
Tomorrow is Swiss National Day, and the Swiss media are duly sticking to what has become a tradition: talking about fireworks and the controversy they spark.
“Will this be the last August 1 with fireworks?” asks Blick, which notes that a proposal to ban fireworks is pending, though it would not affect big official events. The newspaper also emphasises that the Swiss love for fireworks appears to be on the wane, with fewer and fewer crackers available for sale.
For its part, online news portal Watson has a list of municipalities which have already decided to forgo fireworks displays, at least for this year.
And while the initiative was co-launched by animal rights groups, it’s not just animals that suffer from fireworks, as newspapers from the Tamedia group point out, having collected the testimony of a firework-phobic 25-year-old. The articles meanwhile cite a survey that finds that 68% of the population is “somewhat” or “clearly” in favor of a ban.
The Asian hornet has a “wanted” sign around its neck. To fight the invasive pest, authorities in Basel City and Basel Country are offering a reward to anyone who finds and reports nests.
“If, for example, you observe a large presence of this insect near a hive, you can report it to the Basel Beekeepers’ Association,” says Gabriel Strebler from Basel Country’s Office for Environmental Protection and Energy. They will then send a search team, and if they find the nest, the person who made the report will receive a CHF100 reward.
The Asian hornet has no natural predators in Europe and is spreading fast. In Switzerland, it first appeared in the Jura region in 2017 and is now present in at least 14 cantons north of the Alps.
The damage it causes to humans is clear, mainly because it feeds on honeybees, but also because “its diet includes 1,400 insect species, making it a threat to biodiversity,” the Basler Zeitung newspaper reports.
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