Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
No surprise but a record result: Economics Minister Guy Parmelin has been elected Swiss president for the coming year.
All you need to know about the election and more below.
Happy reading
On Wednesday, the minister from the Swiss People’s Party was elected president for 2026 with 203 votes out of 210 valid ballots, a record since the beginning of the century. Radical-Liberal Party minister Ignazio Cassis was elected vice-president with 144 votes out of 190 valid ballots.
The 66-year-old Parmelin will preside over the government next year, succeeding the Radical-Liberal from St. Gallen Karin Keller-Sutter. This will be the second term as president for the politician from canton Vaud.
In his address to Parliament, Parmelin defended dialogue and emphasised that Switzerland’s diversity is also its strength. “Our society does not need value judgments about the position of others but respect for those who think differently. Differences of opinion make us move forward,” he said.
According to many observers, this mandate looks like the last lap of the track for the politician. US tariffs, bilateral relations with the EU and the People’s Party’s “No to 10 million Swiss” initiative are likely to be the big issues that will keep Parmelin busy during his year as president.
Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis considers that in many respects, the United States is not wrong in its criticism of Europe. In an interview with SRF, the future chair of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which Switzerland will chair in 2026) talks about geopolitics and radicalisation in Switzerland.
In its recent national security strategy, the US government openly criticised Europe. Cassis believes that the old continent has indeed neglected to set up a defence system and that Donald Trump is simply telling: “Take your future into your own hands”.
According to the Swiss minister, “it would be illusory to envisage a security policy in Europe without involving Russia”. He is positive about the fact that Russia is still a member of the OSCE and remains so, because the dialogue has not been completely broken.
Radicalisation in Switzerland worries him: “I criticise the lack of respect for those who think differently, the feeling of being the only holder of the absolute truth”. According to him, this is a bad sign for the future of democracy.
Every year, around 32,000 pets are abandoned in shelters in Switzerland and even more are abandoned illegally. The main reasons: impulse purchases, divorces and underestimated maintenance costs.
According to Swiss Animal Protection (SAP), around 600 animals were abandoned per week in 2024 – a record number. Cats and fish are the most affected.
Interviewed by Der Bund, PSA Chairman Peter V. Kunz says that animals have become consumer goods: bought spontaneously; thrown away just as quickly when we have had enough.
In his pet shop, Marco Blättler makes people aware of the reality of keeping an animal: “Few people know that small, colourful fish can live up to 12 years.” Similarly, rabbits and other rodents “are not cuddly toys. They don’t want to be transported everywhere.”
French cross-border households spent up to CHF6,600 francs each in Switzerland in 2024, according to a study by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).
The report debunks a preconceived idea and shows that French households bordering a foreign country make many purchases in the latter. More French shop in Germany, Belgium and Spain than in Switzerland, but it is in Switzerland that they spend the most and most often.
Cross-border commuters mainly visit hotels and restaurants, supermarkets, petrol stations, tobacco shops and clothing shops in Switzerland. The lower VAT in Switzerland makes some products less expensive than in France.
The INSEE study only deals with purchases made by French households in border departments in physical shops and only by bank card. The real total amount of French spending in Switzerland is therefore likely to be even higher.
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