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Swiss Politics

EU turns down heat in tax dispute with Swiss

This content was published on Mar 26, 2007 Ferrero-Waldner said that while the EU was still determined to convince the Swiss that low taxes for holding companies offered by some cantons violated a free trade agreement, it was prepared to be patient. Speaking in Brussels on Monday, the commissioner said it was time to set the record straight. For Ferrero-Waldner, the tax dispute…

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Children’s groups call for better rights

This content was published on Mar 26, 2007 Their protest, which was backed by around 400 children, took place in Bern on Monday to mark ten years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Switzerland. The children symbolically handed over to federal government and cantonal representatives stones engraved with their visions of children’s rights. Child Rights Network Switzerland,…

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50 years of Swiss mistrust of Europe

This content was published on Mar 25, 2007 Gilles Petitpierre, himself a former parliamentarian, says Switzerland’s view of Europe always has and most probably always will be one of mistrust. The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC) and laid the foundations for the European Union, which was much expanded by later treaties including the Maastricht agreement of 1992, which paved…

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Europe marks 50 years – without Switzerland

This content was published on Mar 24, 2007 Even the day after the historic signing on March 25, 1957, Swiss newspapers were caught between enthusiasm and scepticism for the new European Economic Community (EEC). According to historian Georg Kreis, Switzerland even took part in an attempt to sabotage the EEC at the outset, fearful of having such a behemoth on its doorstep. Along…

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Swiss Politics

Storm breaks over human rights memorial

This content was published on Mar 23, 2007 The memorial honours French diplomat René Cassin as the “architect” of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but ignores the leading role played by Eleanor Roosevelt and others. This omission has sparked consternation among human rights campaigners who are furious at what they see as a slight to Roosevelt’s legacy. Roosevelt, the wife of United…

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Union demands introduction of minimum salaries

This content was published on Mar 20, 2007 Union representatives said in Bern on Tuesday that at a time when companies were making record profits and bosses were smiling, employees had received little recognition of their contribution to the success. According to a study carried out by Geneva University, around 670,000 full-time employees, most of them women, were paid less than SFr4,000 per…

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Swiss Politics

Mountain village converts to a princedom

This content was published on Mar 20, 2007 On Tuesday, the authorities in Alvaneu, near the resort of Davos, announced that the title – which was advertised in the press – had been awarded to canton Zurich resident and media expert Peter Martin Wettler. The “Prince of Belfort” as he will be known – named after a local castle and hotel – will…

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Swiss Politics

Foreigners to flex voting muscle in Geneva

This content was published on Mar 19, 2007 The decision to grant the vote to foreigners who have lived in Switzerland for at least eight years has swelled the canton’s electorate – at a local level – by more than a third to 290,000. Geneva’s huge non-Swiss population won the right to vote in a historic ballot in April last year. Foreigners make…

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Cost confusion blamed for health vote failure

This content was published on Mar 11, 2007 Supporters of the people’s initiative vowed to fight on to reform the country’s expensive health system. Opponents said they were relieved at the outcome. In all, 71.2 per cent of voters rejected the reform, which would have replaced the current 87 private insurers providing mandatory coverage for basic health care and introduce premiums based in…

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Government calls for naturalisation changes

This content was published on Mar 9, 2007 The government says it favours extending from five to eight years the period during which naturalisation obtained under false pretences can be annulled. The recommendations are part of a report, published on Friday by the Federal Migration Office, which the government commissioned in 2004 after a failure at the polls. In September 2004 Swiss voters…

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