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Swiss Politics

Clinton arrives in Davos while security is stepped up

This content was published on Jan 28, 2000 President Clinton and other world leaders are meeting today at the annual summit of the World Economic Forum in the resort of Davos, amid tight security. Demonstrators have pledged to hold unauthorised protests. Swiss security forces are on a state of high alert, following a pledge by anti-globalisation protestors to defy an official ban on…

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Swiss government under fire over policy towards foreigners

This content was published on Jan 27, 2000 The government’s policy on foreigners – who make up a fifth of Switzerland’s population – is coming under growing criticism. The justice minister, Ruth Metzler, is being urged to rethink plans to place the federal commission on foreigners under the authority of the office responsible for policing them. The decision two weeks ago prompted 15…

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National exhibition in 2002 gets green light

This content was published on Jan 26, 2000 The Swiss government has given the green light for Switzerland’s planned national exhibition in 2002. At its weekly meeting, the cabinet also approved the release of an extra SFr250 million credit for Expo.02. The approval comes only days after Expo’s bosses said they had cut the exhibition’s budget from SFr1.8 billion to SFr1.4 billion, and…

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Switzerland moves closer to arming peacekeepers abroad

This content was published on Jan 25, 2000 The Swiss army has moved a step closer to being allowed to carry arms on peacekeeping missions, after a parliamentary commission argued that soldiers working in dangerous areas needed to be able to protect themselves. The recommendations of the Commission on Security Policy will come as a welcome boost to the Swiss government’s proposal to…

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Swiss Politics

Swiss playing role in attempts to improve US-Iran relations

This content was published on Jan 23, 2000 Switzerland has been taking part in a dialogue aimed at improving the strained relations between Iran and the United States, according to a senior Swiss official, Franz von Däniken, who has just ended a visit to Teheran. Von Däniken, state secretary in the Swiss foreign ministry, said he had taken part in a “critical but…

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Swiss Politics

Couchepin throws support behind national exhibition

This content was published on Jan 22, 2000 The economics minister, Pascal Couchepin, has come out in support of the troubled national exhibition, Expo.02, a day after the organisers said they had met the government’s demands for a streamlined version of the showpiece. Couchepin, who has been perceived as lukewarm on the national exhibition in the past, told delegates of his Radical Party…

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The week in review

This content was published on Jan 22, 2000 There was hopeful news for Switzerland’s planned but troubled national exhibition, Expo.02. At the end of the week, the organisers presented a new study and said they had fulfilled the government’s financial conditions for the project to go ahead. The board said the government should now give the project the green light and release a…

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Swiss Politics

Christian Democrats and Radical Party make their positions clear

This content was published on Jan 22, 2000 Two centre-right government parties have made their positions clear in the run-up to referenda scheduled to take place March 12. At a Radical Party assembly in Basel, delegates voted unanimously against an initiative for greater direct democracy launched by Denner, a supermarket chain. It also voted for a pro-choice stance on abortion, with just 2…

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Swiss Politics

Ogi and Blocher at odds over foreign role of army

This content was published on Jan 21, 2000 Despite the smiles, the president, Adolf Ogi, and the populist de facto leader of his People’s Party, Christoph Blocher, have clashed at an annual meeting of the Zurich branch of the party in the town of Albisgüetli, not least over whether Swiss soldiers should be deployed abroad. Blocher said the People’s Party was the only…

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Switzerland leads Europe as haven for asylum seekers

This content was published on Jan 21, 2000 Switzerland last year accepted more asylum seekers than any other country in Europe, relative to the size of its population. A survey by the United Nations refugee agency shows that in actual numbers, only Germany and Britain took in more people in 1999. According to a survey published by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees,…

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