Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Personally, I’d like to have had French lessons before sixth form. But that wasn’t the plan back then. Today, children in German-speaking Switzerland can start learning foreign languages at primary school, usually with English, followed later by French. This model is beginning to crack.
The Swiss media are also reporting today on the cancellation of an important health study on harmful substances – and the surprising resignation of Nestlé’s CEO.
Canton Zurich wants to teach French only from secondary school onwards. This decision could have far-reaching consequences for Switzerland’s language policy and has been criticised by the government and French-speaking Switzerland.
Zurich cantonal councillors on the political right believe that children hardly learn French at primary school. Swiss public broadcaster, SRF, reports how the politicians believe that secondary school pupils could learn the grammatically complex language more quickly and efficiently. French lessons should therefore be moved to the upper school.
Those on the left have spoken out against this. One cantonal councillor said that if the large canton of Zurich were to abolish early French, it would be a striking and worrying sign against the country’s linguistic cohesion and identity. The Zurich government also wanted to retain Early French. A majority of the parliament did not heed the warnings and supported the proposal. Zurich is thus following the lead of canton Appenzell Outer Rhodes.
Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider considers the decision of the Zurich cantonal parliament to be “a worrying signal”, she said in an interview with Swiss public broadcaster, RTS. Should canton Zurich withdraw from the HarmoS Concordat, the government is considering a language law. This would stipulate that a national language must be taught first at primary school. In Zurich, this would be French instead of English.
Switzerland is abandoning a comprehensive long-term study on the health effects of PFAS and pesticides. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has stopped the project due to cost-cutting measures – a decision that has been criticised by researchers and politicians.
The Swiss Health Study would have followed 100,000 people over 20 years. Regular tests for harmful substances such as PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, were planned. However, the FOPH cancelled the project for financial reasons, according to a government response. According to the FOPH, the study would have cost CHF10-12 million ($12.5-15 million) a year, meaning a total of up to CHF240 million would have been incurred over 20 years.
According to Swiss public broadcaster SRF, 789 volunteers from cantons Vaud and Bern took part in the pilot study for the now discontinued health study. PFAS chemicals were detected in all of the blood samples. A health-relevant threshold value was exceeded in 3.6% of the samples.
Carlo Largiadèr, associate professor of pharmacogenetics at the University of Bern, spoke of a major missed opportunity. New substances were constantly coming into circulation, but there was a lack of observational data, he said. “The data from the health study would have been very valuable for politics and prevention,” Largiadèr said. Green Party parliamentarian Manuela Weichelt called the cancellation short-sighted. It is more favourable to invest in prevention than in expensive long-term consequences, she said. Her party wants to save the project in parliament.
An undisclosed love affair has cost Nestlé’s French CEO Laurent Freixe his job. For the company, the sudden departure is a further blow in the middle of a phase of strategic uncertainty. A Swiss man will take over.
Nestlé’s board of directors has dismissed CEO Laurent Freixe with immediate effect. According to Swiss public broadcaster SRF, he was dismissed because of an “undisclosed romantic relationship” with a female employee who reported directly to him. Chairman of the board of directors Paul Bulcke called the decision “necessary” – Nestlé wanted to uphold its “values and governance”, he said. Freixe must leave without severance pay.
The change of boss comes at the most unfavourable moment for Nestlé, writes Blick. Although Nestlé shares had a very strong first quarter in 2025 after a weak year in 2024 and were the biggest winner on the SMI index for a long time, they have since lost a large part of their gains. In Freixe’s one-year term of office, Nestlé lost almost 16% of its value on the stock market, according to Blick. The last time the share price was this low was almost ten years ago.
Philipp Navratil, previously CEO of Nespresso, will take over. He has been with Nestlé for over 20 years and has been a member of the executive board since the beginning of this year. Bulcke praised him as a “dynamic leader with an inclusive management style”. Navratil said it was a “privilege to lead Nestlé into the future” and wanted to continue the strategy that has been adopted.
The government supports the Social Democratic Party’s call to confiscate old military weapons from private individuals if they have not been used for shooting for more than ten years. In doing so, it’s sending out a signal against the risks posed by unused military weapons.
Arming militia soldiers at home is a Swiss peculiarity – and has long been uncontroversial. For decades, soldiers were also given a rifle with so-called pocket ammunition, as CH Media reports. It wasn’t until the femicide of ski racer Corinne Rey-Bellet in 2006 and other cases of domestic violence with service weapons that a rethink began.
While middle-class circles have repeatedly called for the return of pocket ammunition, the government sees no need to issue it again. Instead, it supports the Social Democrats’ move to take back unused assault rifles.
With regard to domestic violence, a study shows that older men with army weapons in particular are more likely than average to be perpetrators. Social Democrat parliamentarian Priska Seiler Graf is therefore calling for the confiscation of these weapons as a preventative measure – a concern shared by the government. At the same time, the Social Democratic Party is working on an initiative against patriarchal violence that aims to enshrine binding minimum standards for protection and prevention in the constitution in addition to financial resources.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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