Switzerland Today
Hello, Helvetians of the world,
Parliament has been busy. Today the House of Representatives and the Senate made important decisions on pensions, asylum and civilian service. And for only the second time since the federal state was founded, a rare democratic mechanism has been triggered.
Enjoy the read!
Today the House of Representatives adopted provisions to abolish lifelong pensions for widows and widowers. It also approved two motions to tighten the asylum system.
The Senate, following the same line, supports stricter rules on access to civilian service. According to the government, widows’ and widowers’ pensions no longer reflect reality, which is why it has decided to review them. Today the House of Representatives followed this line. These will no longer be widow’s pensions, but a “surviving parent’s pension” paid until the last child reaches the age of 25, regardless of the marital status of the parents.
After the Senate debated asylum on September 23, the House of Representatives held an extraordinary session the next day at the request of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. Out of six proposals, two motions were accepted to reduce Switzerland’s “attractiveness” for illegal migration, against the advice of the government.
The Senate also wants to restrict access to civilian service to prevent a drop in military numbers. Currently, a simple application is enough to transfer, but the government is pushing for stricter conditions to limit departures from the armed forces.
The cantons have launched a cantonal referendum against the federal law on individual taxation of married couples.
Yesterday Aargau became the eighth canton to vote against the reform, joining Valais, St Gallen, Thurgau, Schwyz, Obwalden and the two Appenzells. The parliaments of Uri and Nidwalden voted today and also support the referendum, bringing the number of cantons in favour to ten.
This marks only the second time the instrument has been used since the creation of the federal state. The first successful cantonal referendum was in 2003. Political scientist Pascal Sciarini of the University of Geneva notes that since then, parliament has taken care not to provoke the cantons on federalist issues.
The law under challenge would put married couples on the same footing as unmarried couples, with separate tax returns for each spouse. The final decision now rests with Swiss voters.
UBS will pay €835 million (CHF780 million) to settle a long-running tax dispute in France, avoiding a new appeal.
The case began in 2011, when prosecutors accused the bank of sending Swiss advisers to canvass French clients to hide assets in Switzerland.
The settlement includes a €730 million fine and €105 million in damages for the French state. UBS noted it had already set aside $3.6 billion (CHF2.85 billion) in provisions for legal cases at the end of 2024. “The decision brings to an end 14 years of legal proceedings,” said the Paris public prosecutor’s office, which opened the preliminary investigation in 2011 for “illegal canvassing” and “aggravated tax fraud laundering”.
It is alleged that the bank sent Swiss sales representatives to canvass French citizens to shelter their money from tax in Switzerland. According to the prosecution, the cross-border movements had been disguised by parallel accounting. UBS’s French lawyer told AWP, which obtained the statement from the Paris Court of Appeal, that the conclusion of the case was “a reasonable solution”.
Several cantons, including Jura, Valais and Geneva, have banned single-use e-cigarettes known as puffs, popular among young people.
Tobacco companies are appealing to the Federal Court, arguing that only federal law can prohibit products. “By doing so, they are evading the higher law,” Philip Morris spokesman Julian Pidoux told Swiss public television, RTS.
The industry warns that a ban would cause financial losses and claims puffs help smokers switch from traditional cigarettes to smokeless products. Health experts counter that many contain high doses of nicotine. Environmental concerns also loom large: the devices are discarded with their batteries still inside. Philip Morris says customers can return used products in special recycling bags.
Translated from French using DeepL/amva/ts
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
