The week in Switzerland
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Happy Swiss National Day! This year Switzerland is blowing out 735 candles. Will you be raising a glass or grilling a cervelat? If you’re in Switzerland, you probably won’t be setting off any fireworks – they are banned across most of the country owing to the risk of fires given the dry conditions.
One of the most severe droughts in recent years continued across Europe and Switzerland this week. With droughts becoming increasingly severe, Switzerland must “relearn how to manage its water resources”, said Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
“Switzerland as a whole won’t face a water shortage,” hydrologist Bettina Schaefli told RTS on Thursday. “The problem lies with specific municipalities that are running short of water. The question is whether there is water at the right time, in the right place. And this summer, that’s not the case.”
RTS warned of conflicts over water use, particularly between private individuals – who want to fill their swimming pools or water their lawns – and the agricultural sector. “The drought is taking its toll on Swiss farmers,” the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on Thursday. “Their crops are withering, and in some places cows are having to be slaughtered due to a lack of feed.”
Since last Saturday 34 firefighters from French-speaking Switzerland have been helping their French colleagues tackle the wildfires that have already burnt 42,000 hectares in Gironde, southwestern France. It’s a gruelling experience, RTS wrote, but also an important one, as it enables them to learn how to manage this type of large-scale fire, which could one day affect Switzerland.
“We must prepare ourselves because, unfortunately, it’s only a matter of time before we see an exceptional wildfire in Switzerland’s vegetation and forests,” said Nicolas Schumacher, commander of the Geneva Fire and Rescue Service and head of the French-speaking Swiss detachment in France.
Last Friday the United States imposed a 12.5% tariff on Swiss goods. Reaction has ranged from the resigned to the furious.
“First 39%, then 15%, now 12.5%: US tariffs on Swiss products have changed several times in recent months,” Swiss public broadcaster SRF sighed on Monday. “Should Switzerland accept the new tariffs, or should the government continue negotiations?”
Politicians were divided. Roland Rino Büchel from the Swiss People’s Party said he was generally satisfied with the current situation but wanted to see a binding agreement. “The figure of 12.5% is acceptable,” he told SRF. “It’s not brilliant, that’s clear. But we must continue to work towards something truly binding.”
Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter of the Centre Party called for further negotiations, pointing to the 10% tariff negotiated by the European Union. “The EU is our most important trading partner. I believe we should continue to try to get on the 10% track. That would put us on an equal footing with the EU. This is important for our companies.”
More fundamental criticism came from Green parliamentarian Gerhard Andrey, who questioned not only the outcome but also the government’s approach. “The government must recognise that we can’t rely on what is negotiated with the US. We’ve learnt that lesson well enough. The government must also draw up a proposal that it can put before parliament and the people, rather than negotiating piecemeal at the regulatory level, bypassing democracy as it’s doing now.”
The latest tariffs – on some 60 countries – are the result of an investigation into whether the US’s trading partners had eliminated forced labour from their supply chains. According to NGO Public Eye, Switzerland is lagging behind when it comes to regulating forced labour and the problem must be tackled – but not under pressure from Donald Trump. “It’s incredibly cynical that a government which tramples on human rights worldwide is now using forced labour as an excuse for new tariffs,” David Hachfeld from Public Eye told Swiss business magazine Bilanz.
The World Cup might have ended two weeks ago, but FIFA, world football’s Zurich-based global body, and its hate-figure president, Gianni Infantino, have been making headlines all week.
On Monday Infantino – like his predecessor Sepp Blatter a Swiss citizen – took to social media and told his critics to “meditate, pray or watch a football match” instead of “spreading hate and false rumours” about his leadership, FIFA and the World Cup.
The following day he announced that FIFA planned to create a $20 billion (CHF16.25 billion) subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events and would offer stakes of up to 20% in it to external investors. This provoked furious responses from around the world, including from UEFA, European football’s Swiss-based governing body, which accused FIFA of putting the game’s soul up for sale. On Friday UEFA said it would boycott the World Cup over Infantino’s plan. Facing a backlash, FIFA announced on Saturday it would scrap the proposal.
Also this week Swiss fans were wondering what might have been after the Zurich-based International Football Association Board (IFAB) confirmed that Swiss striker Breel Embolo shouldn’t have been sent off during Switzerland’s World Cup quarterfinal clash against Argentina.
For the time being, it said on Monday, VAR (video assistant referee) cannot intervene in the event of a mistaken yellow card. Argentine player Leandro Paredes had initially been booked for a foul on Embolo in the 72nd minute. Noting the obvious dive by Embolo, VAR intervened on the basis of the “mistaken identity” clause, resulting in Paredes’s yellow card being reissued to Embolo, who had already been booked. Reduced to ten men, Switzerland held out until extra time, before losing 3–1.
To add to the confusion, FIFA said it disagreed with IFAB, arguing that the interpretation of the so-called mistaken identity rule was applied consistently throughout the World Cup.
Edited by Pauline Turuban
The week ahead
On Tuesday Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) releases its figures for the first half of 2026. We recently reported that flying in Switzerland is 70% more expensive than five years ago, but is that putting people off?
The curtain at the ten-day Locarno Film Festival goes up on Wednesday. Seventeen films from around the world are competing for the top prize, the Pardo d’Oro, the Golden Leopard.
The 33rd Zurich Street Parade, the world’s largest electronic and techno music parade, kicks off on Saturday August 8, running from 1pm to midnight.
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