Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
This Monday Swiss media are focused on major international developments, with the Gaza peace process taking centre stage. But as today’s stories show, global events can have very tangible repercussions in Switzerland.
In domestic news, attention is turning to next month’s national referendum – with one of the issues on the ballot now under review due to some questionable wording in the vote brochure.
The release of the last Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza dominated global headlines on Monday. The story continues with the opening of a “peace summit” in Egypt, co-chaired by the Egyptian and US presidents.
Swiss media coverage, however, remains focused on the violent clashes that erupted at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Bern on Saturday. The unauthorised protest drew around 5,000 people and resulted in one of Switzerland’s most violent episodes in recent years: 20 people were injured, 18 of them police officers, and property damage is estimated in the millions of francs.
In an unprecedented move, 536 people were detained before being released, except for one individual who remains under investigation. A criminal probe is underway.
Police and protesters have issued sharply contrasting accounts, but the scale of the violence has caused shockwaves. Calls for tougher policing are growing. “The political handling of this affair will keep us busy for a long time,” said Alec von Graffenried, director of security, environment and energy of Bern city.
Another diplomatic “soap opera” has returned to the headlines: the on-again, off-again tariff battle between the United States and China. Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump’s conflicting statements sent tremors through financial markets – including Switzerland’s.
On Friday, Trump accused China of becoming “very hostile” after introducing new export controls on rare earths and threatened to impose 100% customs duties on all Chinese goods from November 1. By Sunday, however, he softened his tone on Truth Social, writing that the United States wanted to “help China, not harm it”.
This kind of uncertainty has a deleterious effect on stock markets. As a result of Friday’s announcement, many stock markets ended in the red. In Switzerland, the three main stock market indices were down: -1.01% for the Swiss Market Index, -1.19% for the Swiss Leader Index and -0.93% for the Swiss Performance Index.
Trump’s soothing words on Sunday were not enough to completely calm the financial markets. Asian stock markets opened down on Monday, while the Swiss exchange rebounded slightly at the opening bell.
There is another political soap opera that is being closely followed in Switzerland: the tribulations of French political life. On Monday, Swiss media reported on the new French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who was reappointed only days after briefly resigning.
Swiss coverage expressed scepticism about the new government’s ability to meet expectations for change. Blick summed up the mood: “The government will have to make people forget the man at the Élysée who now dominates the atmosphere with his record unpopularity: Emmanuel Macron.”
The immediate challenge for Lecornu’s team is drafting a budget for a highly indebted France. On the talk show C dans l’air on France 5, Blick correspondent Richard Wehrli noted that the shortage of funds could affect bilateral projects with Switzerland – including ferry links on Lake Geneva.
These cross-border services are jointly financed by both countries, but France had initially refused to renew the cost-sharing agreement. After lengthy negotiations, a compromise was reached: each side will continue to cover half of the deficit, but with fewer connections. The Lausanne and the Thonon-les-Bains route will be reduced by half.
One of the issues on the November 30 federal ballot is under scrutiny after the initiative committee for the “citizen service” proposal filed a complaint over the government’s official explanatory brochure.
According to Swiss public broadcaster, RTS, the committee believes that some of the wording in the brochure does not correspond to the spirit of the initiative that will be put to the vote on November 30. For instance, the brochure states the measure would “help fight climate change”, while the committee considers this only a secondary goal.
The organisers are demanding that the information be corrected or the vote postponed. But the chances of success are slim. “It’s extremely complicated and, under current law, practically impossible,” said constitutional law professor Jacques Dubey, interviewed by RTS.
Translated from French using DeepL/amva/jdp
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