The black market for bread is booming. In Geneva, one baguette is currently traded for 15 cigarettes
Keystone
A change to the constitution intended to improve Switzerland’s reputation as a tax haven has instead been mistakenly ratified as referring to “baking secrecy”.
This content was published on
1 minute
Born in London, Thomas was a journalist at The Independent before moving to Bern in 2005. He speaks all three official Swiss languages and enjoys travelling the country and practising them, above all in pubs, restaurants and gelaterias.
Patisseries and bakeries around the country are concerned how this legally binding oversight will affect their businesses.
“It could make life very difficult,” Hans Weggli, a baker in Zurich, told swissinfo.ch. “I mean, how do I ensure that no information about my customers is released? Get them to queue wearing balaclavas and pay cash only?”
Others have looked into online baking.
For its part, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States tax authority which has given an ultimatum to 11 Swiss banks to hand over thousands of client names to avoid tax evasion prosecution in the US, says it has “no interest” in “who buys a strudel where and when”.
One pastry chef at a top Geneva restaurant complained he had become the butt of international jokes. “One of my rivals in London called and asked whether I was hiding all my dough in my mattress. Why would I do that? Is he trying to be funny?”
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Ding Dong Merrily on Heidi
This content was published on
Poking a log fire was more enjoyable than almost anything else in the world, Grandfather remembered his own grandfather telling him as a boy. Watching the pine embers crackle and dance in the fireplace, he decided he preferred crunching through fresh snow, but his hips were grateful for the warmth. He sat down, lit the…
This content was published on
The foreign ministry has yet to comment officially on the claims, made in United States diplomatic cables released last week by the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website. The alleged bugging came to light in cables sent in September 2006 from the US embassy in Bern to the US State Department. In it, an unnamed official expressed security…
This content was published on
From Wednesday the barrels round the necks of the Swiss Alpine Club’s 135 official mountain rescue dogs will be replaced by miniature Nespresso-style coffee machines. “It was a purely business decision,” said Jörg Ettinghadt from the Swiss Alpine Club. “The global financial crisis has meant we’ve got to either cut back the number of dogs…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.