Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Since November last year Switzerland has not offered refuge to all Ukrainians fleeing the war. A return to the west of the country is in principle reasonable, parliament has decided. Now the migration office is taking stock of the situation.
A trip by Justice Minister Beat Jans to Belgium shows that Switzerland has some catching up to do in terms of combating drug smuggling. And from today, the Swiss National Bank is letting anyone interested tinker with the key interest rate – fortunately only in a simulation.
Warm greetings from Bern
Protection status S was considered a simplified refugee policy for all Ukrainians. But Switzerland is tightening the reins: those who come from the west of the country hardly ever receive asylum. A new practice that is causing a stir in a European comparison.
Since November, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has been denying protection status S to people from seven western Ukrainian regions. According to SRF News, Switzerland is thus stricter than most EU states, which continue to grant protection to all Ukrainians. Although there are also air strikes in the west, the parliament classifies these zones as safe and a return to them as reasonable.
The fear of overburdened asylum structures was unfounded: the SEM has not yet registered any follow-up asylum applications after deportation. Many of those affected simply travel on to other European countries where protection status is easier to obtain. Switzerland is thus relieving itself primarily by shifting those seeking protection to neighbouring countries.
From the Transcarpathian region, the number of applications has halved since the change in practice. According to SEM, this 50% decrease is a success against abuse, as a particularly large number of applications with fake IDs had previously been received from this area.
The end of the Easter holidays will be a game of patience for many. A massive strike paralysed large parts of Lufthansa’s flight schedule today – with noticeable consequences for Switzerland
The strike by Lufthansa’s cabin crew hit the Frankfurt hub with full force. Around 75% of the planned take-offs were cancelled, which affected about 72,000 passengers this Friday alone. It was already the third major strike at Germany’s largest airline this year. The Ufo union is fighting against an increase in working hours in summer.
The effects of the strike reached as far as Switzerland. At Zurich Airport, about a dozen flights had to be cancelled, and several connections were also cancelled in Basel and Geneva. Since Lufthansa’s planes were missing from their destinations, a domino effect was created that disrupted flight schedules throughout Europe. Passengers were urgently advised to inform themselves about rebookings and compensation in good time.
The Lufthansa subsidiary SWISS chose a helpful way out: The airline used significantly larger aircraft in order to transport as many passengers as possible to Frankfurt and Munich despite the cancellations. Despite this increase in capacity, the situation for travelers remained precarious; the airline asked customers to keep their contact details up to date for short-term information.
What does the port of Antwerp have to do with security in Switzerland? Much more than you think. The Swiss Minister of Justice warns that if major ports upgrade security, drug smugglers will switch to smaller ports such as Basel.
Drug smugglers are increasingly switching to peripheral ports. This is why the Basel Rhine ports, for example, are coming into focus, as a chance find of 500 kilos of cocaine in a coffee factory in 2022 proved. To counteract this, the cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country are planning to join the European Ports Alliance. The aim is adopt uniform standards and facilitate better data exchange with private companies in order to stop the drug glut.
Justice Minister Beat Jans visited the port of Antwerp in Belgium. Compared to Belgium, Switzerland has some catching up to do. While Brussels coordinates with authorities for threat analysis, in Switzerland cantonal autonomy often prevents the linking of police databases. Switzerland urgently needs to tighten its strategy against organised crime and money laundering, it was said at a meeting with the Belgian National Drug Commissioner. The financial strength and small-scale state structure of the Swiss is a pull factor for mafia-like structures.
Security is also linked to European policy. Social Democrat Jans warned that the 10 million population cap initiative of the Swiss People’s Party endangers access to the Schengen Information System. A loss of this data would massively hinder the investigations against drug gangs. The fight against crime is therefore inextricably linked to the bilateral agreements with the EU.
Finally, let’s talk about money. Today, the Swiss National Bank opened its ‘Moneyverse’ in Bern. Those interested can explore the world of money in a surprising way.
In the “Moneyverse”, you slip directly into the role of the SNB Governing Board. A special interest rate simulator allows you to control the key interest rate yourself and experience the effects on the economy in real time. This experiment impressively illustrates the great dilemma of monetary policy: it is simply impossible to please everyone when it comes to interest rate decisions.
Although the museum is intended to create transparency, the SNB remains discreet as usual when it comes to finances. According to sources, the conversion of the historic building, which was also opened today, cost a few hundred million Swiss francs. SNB President Martin Schlegel was unable to share exact figures – also for security reasons, as the building directly borders the strictly guarded rooms of the Swiss National Bank.
There is more than dry theory on offer: from huge stone currencies to nylon stockings as a medium of exchange, the history of money becomes tangible. At the end, a bar tempts you with drinks such as the “Cashless Colada”. Admission to the Moneyverse, designed and implemented in close cooperation with the Bern History Museum, is free of charge.
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