Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Our parliamentarians don't seem to think much of transparency: a study shows that only 27% of them fully disclose their income.
Also making the news is a groundbreaking ruling by the Federal Court in connection with the digital manipulation of pornographic content and on the hesitant spending intentions of the Swiss in 2026.
Warm greetings from Bern
How much do our parliamentarians earn on the side? Lobbywatch’s Transparency Report 2025 reveals a stagnation in disclosure levels in the Federal Palace.
Currently, only 27% of those elected to the Swiss parliament disclose all their income sources with 29% declaring only part of their income. The remaining 44% do not provide any information about their fees from mandates in companies or associations. Since there are no legal requirements for such payments, transparency remains voluntary – a model that, according to the Lobbywatch report, is reaching its limits.
The differences between the parties are massive: While the Greens lead with 68% complete transparency, not a single member of the Radical-Liberal Party declared all income. Conservative politicians also hold 76% of all declared paid mandates, which further intensifies the debate about lobbying influence in parliament.
Interestingly, women – 33% of whom offer full transparency, compared to 25% of men – and senior citizens over the age of 70 (66%) are the most open. In view of these figures, Lobbywatch is calling for a legal disclosure obligation so that voters know who tops up the salaries of their elected officials.
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court classifies the digital manipulation of adults into minors in pornographic content counts as illegal child sex abuse material.
A man was convicted because for sharing a video on his Instagram account with an apparently prepubescent girl. In reality, the latter was an actress rejuvenated through technology. The Federal Court has now rejected his appeal, confirming that fictitious child sex abuse material created using rejuvenation software was punishable by law.
If such manipulated videos were allowed, perpetrators would be able to claim more easily in the case of real abuse that they are merely digital filters, the court stated. This would make it much more difficult to prosecute real crimes, as the distinction between reality and manipulation is often more difficult in so-called “de-aging” than in animation films.
In addition, the court warned of a corrupting effect and a dangerous effect: Such depictions could promote the real market for child sex abuse material and contribute to desensitisation to child sex abuse. The landmark ruling thus sets a clear limit for the use of AI technologies in the adult industry.
Despite falling inflation and selective optimism, Switzerland is heading for a year of deliberate consumer restraint, as various surveys show.
While 27% of the population – led by a confident youth – expect incomes to rise, according to a survey by Comparis, a third of households plan to actively reduce spending, as a recent survey by Management Tools Research shows. According to a recent survey, those under 45 in particular are switching to savings mode, although they are the ones hoping for wage increases. This pressure to save results primarily from high fixed costs such as health insurance premiums, which represent the main risk for 75% of those willing to save.
Regionally, there is a deep divide: while the majority of German-speaking Switzerland remains unconcerned, more than 60% of people in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino feel that their situation is precarious. In Ticino, almost one in three people cannot build up any savings.
In everyday life, this leads to a harsh austerity when it comes to furniture, clothing and electronics. In the food sector, the consumer remains loyal to the two major Swiss retailers, but is consistently switching to cheaper own brands. According to the survey, Swiss consumers want to act pragmatically in 2026: they trust in their own wages, but distrust general price stability.
In the last week of the year, we present the most read articles from our “Swiss Abroad” section. Today we take a look at five countries in the world where not a single person with a Swiss passport is officially registered.
The number of Swiss Abroad rose steadily to 826,700 by 2024, which theoretically corresponds to the fourth-largest canton in Switzerland. They are represented in 192 of the 197 recognised countries of the world.
In the island state of Nauru, no Swiss citizen has ever been recorded in the last 31 years. In Tuvalu (since 2003) and Turkmenistan (since 2016), no one from Switzerland is registered either. In 2010, there were still eight Swiss nationals living in Turkmenistan.
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the withdrawal from countries such as North Korea and the Marshall Islands. No Swiss nationals have been registered in North Korea since 2022, after the workforce of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) had to temporarily leave its office in Pyongyang due to closed borders. A return of the SDC depends on future entry permits.
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