Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The marathon hearing of the mayor of Crans-Montana left those present feeling frustrated.
Also in today’s selection, watchmaking shows open their doors in Geneva and the authorities look to single-family homes to combat the housing shortage in Switzerland.
Nicolas Féraud, mayor of the Swiss municipality of Crans-Montana, was heard as a defendant for the first time yesterday. Several of the plaintiffs’ lawyers found the hearing unconvincing. It will continue at a later date.
Féraud was questioned for almost 11 hours by the magistrates in charge of the criminal investigation into the Crans-Montana disaster, in which 41 people died and more than 100 were injured in a nightclub fire on New Year’s Eve. He is the first elected official to be heard as a defendant in this case.
Féraud was questioned in particular about the absence of an annual safety check in the Le Constellation bar since 2019. He said that he was not aware of this absence of checks, and that the local council had granted jobs each time the security officers had requested additional staff. “Logically, the municipal council therefore thought that the service was being provided correctly,” said Féraud’s lawyer, Christian Delaloye.
At the end of the hearing, lawyers for the plaintiffs and other defendants were critical of Féraud’s answers. “He did a lot to hide behind his ignorance, but that’s hard to sustain given the evidence in the case,” said Yaël Hayat, lawyer of Jessica Moretti, who co-owns the bar with her husband, Jacques.
The French courts have also refused to execute an international letter rogatory from Switzerland requesting the seizure of Jacques and Jessica Moretti’s property in France. The judge argued that these properties were not directly linked to the offence in question.
How is the Swiss watch industry faring? The watch fairs that opened their doors for a week today in Geneva, with “Watches and Wonders” as the central event, will provide an opportunity to take the pulse of the sector.
Based on export statistics and the results of listed groups, the mood is gloomy. According to the newspaper Le Temps, the sector has still not recovered from the fall in demand in China, and the fluctuating customs duties imposed by the United States are a sword of Damocles.
What’s more, the high value of the Swiss franc is weighing on the balance sheet, including for the biggest brands, resulting in short-time working at Swiss production sites. Speaking on Swiss public radio RTS, Olivier Müller, a watchmaking consultant, notes an accumulation of several negative economic factors and even speaks of an “acute crisis”.
According to Le Temps, however, this needs to be qualified. The situation of the watch industry as a whole “is not bad”. The pillars of the sector remain solid, and small niche brands are regularly entering the market. The industry knows how to make itself desirable and will be displaying this to great effect in Geneva over the next few days.
Against the backdrop of the housing crisis, under-occupied detached houses are being targeted by the authorities, according to Blick. Built by the post-war generations for their families, they are now often inhabited only by single people or couples.
In an interview with the newspaper, the Federal Housing Office (FHO) refers to “around 300,000 detached houses on large plots of land, often under-occupied and inhabited by an increasingly elderly population”.
The situation offers “an opportunity for high-quality, socially acceptable densification”. A nationwide study, co-financed by the FHO, is to examine the development potential of neighbourhoods populated by detached houses, particularly in the context of the housing shortage and the ageing of the population.
To initiate such a transition, owners of under-occupied single-family homes will have to be willing to leave their homes. While the study should also provide concrete ideas for action in this area, the FHO points out that spatial planning is primarily the responsibility of the cantons and municipalities.
The public transport ombudsman is calling for greater flexibility in checks where there is no intention to defraud.
On Swiss trains it is not uncommon to be fined for a wrong name, an extra zone or a ticket validated a few seconds too late. Of course there are freeriders, but many people also act in good faith.
When questioned by the Tages-Anzeiger, the Swiss Federal Railways argued that at the time of the check, on-board staff are often unable to determine whether it is a mistake or a deliberate offence. “This is why we need a uniform basic rule, with the possibility of examining the case after the event,” it said.
For Hans Höhener, the public transport ombudsman who mediates in appeals, the obligation to have a ticket must be respected. But when passengers who have been fined contest the offence, he questions the cost-effectiveness of procedures in cases of minor fare differences. He intends to take a critical look at the issue of rigid control practices in his next annual report, due in June.
Translated using AI/ts
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