Swiss Abroad

Ticino tax threat weighs on neighbouring Italy

This content was published on Aug 14, 2011 Border municipalities in the Italian provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont have been worried since a partial freeze on the repatriation of taxes taken from cross-border workers was implemented last month by Switzerland’s southern canton Ticino. The Italian communes have come to rely on this tax revenue and they claim the future financing of infrastructure is…

Swiss Politics

Self-regulating industry rejects new CO2 law

This content was published on Aug 13, 2011 The Industry Energy Agency said this week that more than 2,100 firms participating in a self-regulatory scheme have cut CO2 emissions by 1.3 million tonnes in the last ten years while using 1,000 gigawatt hours less electricity. Parliament will debate new CO2 legislation in the autumn that proposes cutting emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.…

Swiss Politics

“Berlin had been isolated”

This content was published on Aug 13, 2011 Swiss citizen Burghard Feller, whose dairyman father had moved to Berlin to work, was born there in 1943, and his family lived for many years near the wall. He looks back at life in Berlin during and after the construction of the wall. Feller, one of eight children, trained to become a locomotive mechanic with…

Read more: “Berlin had been isolated”

Swiss Politics

Strong franc emerges as potential campaign issue

This content was published on Aug 12, 2011 The latest opinion poll commissioned by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation found that environmental issues have become less important, while immigration remains high on the agenda. The survey, carried out 90 days ahead of the elections, also found that support for centre-right parties has increased at the expense of the Right and the Left. “There are…

Swiss Politics

Minister pleads for patience over asylum policy

This content was published on Aug 12, 2011 “There is agreement and goodwill both from the federal authorities and the cantons to achieve solutions. But we need time,” she told journalists. She added that it is not always easy to get suitable housing and to convince the local population which is concerned about possible tensions or cases of petty crime. Her comments come…

Swiss Politics

Violence against women “stops development”

This content was published on Aug 12, 2011 The meeting, attended by Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, highlighted how thousands of women suffer in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “Women are victims of violence all over the world,” Calmy-Rey told reporters ahead of the event. “And in conflict zones,…

Swiss Politics

Taliban offer proof they have Swiss hostages

This content was published on Aug 12, 2011 According to the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, pictures taken of the hostages’ passports and broadcast by the Al Arabyia television network earlier this week are formal proof. The Center said in a statement on its website that there were, however, errors in the information relayed by Al Arabyia. The television report…

Swiss Politics

Media hail tax deal with Germany

This content was published on Aug 11, 2011 But if the deal is seen as a step forward by the media, questions remain as to whether it would survive political change in Berlin and the effects it will have on the Swiss banking industry. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) called the accord a “big step forward”, even if concessions are made – referring…

Swiss Politics

Calling for Fair Play in election campaign

This content was published on Aug 10, 2011 An initiative of around 20 religious, unions and community groups, the ‘Fair Play’ campaign invites people to sign an online petition calling for messages of racism, defamation and exclusion to be absent from political campaign. The petition is also open to those people who are not eligible to vote in October’s national elections. The campaign…

Swiss Politics

Deal reached on Swiss-German tax treaty

This content was published on Aug 10, 2011 The accord, which includes an up-front payment to Germany of SFr2 billion ($2.76 billion) by Swiss banks, has been initialed and will be signed by both governments in the coming weeks. The banks’ advance payment will only be reimbursed if and when the German authorities recoup enough back-taxes from Swiss accounts owed to them. The…

Swiss Abroad

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

Swiss Abroad

More

Ticino tax threat weighs on neighbouring Italy

More

Self-regulating industry rejects new CO2 law

More

“Berlin had been isolated”

More

Strong franc emerges as potential campaign issue

More

Minister pleads for patience over asylum policy

More

Violence against women “stops development”

More

Taliban offer proof they have Swiss hostages

More

Media hail tax deal with Germany

More

Calling for Fair Play in election campaign

More

Deal reached on Swiss-German tax treaty

Popular Stories

Most Discussed