Author: switzerlandtimes.ch

After six consecutive cuts, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has left its key rate unchanged at 0%. It also reaffirmed its willingness to intervene in foreign-exchange markets if needed. Inflationary pressures, it noted, remain broadly stable. The bank will keep a close eye on the data and adjust policy as required to safeguard price stability. Few were surprised: most economists had anticipated the pause. The economic outlook, however, is murkier. America’s steeper tariffs have cast a shadow, with trade policy and slowing global growth cited as the main risks. The SNB still expects Swiss GDP to expand by 1–1.5% in…

Students staged protests across Switzerland on Wednesday against a plan to double university registration fees and other austerity measures in higher education, reported RTS. A petition with more than 37,000 signatures was handed to the Federal Chancellery in Bern. The fee rise forms part of the Federal Council’s 2027 budget-consolidation package. The Swiss Students’ Union (UNES) says it would erode equal opportunity and weaken the country’s education system: Cut education today and you get skills shortages, lower social mobility and less innovation, say those opposing the fee hikes. The public-sector union warns that planned research cuts, including to the Swiss…

Switzerland’s Federal Council intends to tax electric cars from 2030 to make up for shrinking fuel-tax revenues, reported SRF. Two models are on the table: a levy per kilometre driven or a surcharge on the electricity used to charge vehicles. Either would require a constitutional amendment, meaning approval from both voters and cantons. The logic is straightforward. Roads in Switzerland are funded entirely by users. The main source of cash is the mineral-oil tax, which feeds the National Road and Agglomeration Transport Fund and other pots. Roughly half of the levy also tops up the federal budget. As petrol and…

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Zurich City’s citizens will decide on 28 September 2025 whether to ban petrol-powered leaf blowers. A Left-Green coalition wants only quieter electric ones, and only in autumn – from October to December. The city council and a majority of the municipal council are on board. But opposition was sufficient to call a vote against the move. Opponents, mainly centrists, call the plan needless meddling that will make gardeners’ work harder. They forced the proposal to a referendum, arguing that the tools are noisy but not intolerable. Many Swiss municipalities already have noise rules. It is not uncommon for excessive noise…

Last Sunday, Swiss voted to scrap one of the country’s most peculiar taxes: imputed rent, known as valeur locative or Eigenmietwert. Across the country 58% voted in favour of abolishing it. However, across French-speaking Switzerland, every canton voted against the plan. By contrast, in German-speaking cantons, with the exception of Basel-City, abolition won strong support. For decades homeowners have had to declare as taxable income a notional rent they would have paid had they been tenants in their own homes. At the same time, they could deduct mortgage interest and maintenance. The idea, first used in Basel-City in 1880, became…

Social media should be banned for under-18s, argues the head of Switzerland’s association of German-speaking school principals, reported RTS. Thomas Minder, president of the association, says young people need stronger protection from the addictive pull of online platforms, comparing smartphone dependency to addictions to alcohol and tobacco. Even adults struggle to use these apps responsibly, Minder told Tamedia. Do we really want algorithms designed to capture the minds of our children? The debate over social-media restrictions for minors often overlaps with calls to ban mobile phones in schools, he noted — though he dismissed such proposals as “political window-dressing” by…

Donald Trump has vowed to slap 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to America from 1 October 2025. The measure, announced in a fleeting post on Truth Social, will apply to patented medicines, though generics appear exempt. Other imports will also be hit: kitchen and bathroom furniture (50%), upholstered furniture (30%) and heavy trucks (25%). The president says the goal is to shield domestic producers from “unfair” foreign competition. Drugmakers may avoid the levy if they shift production to America. To qualify, projects must already be under way, with factories under construction or ground-breaking imminent. The Republican has also demanded lower…

Switzerland’s right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) has filed a new initiative “To protect borders”. The proposal, backed by 110,000 signatures, demands systematic checks at Swiss frontiers and tighter asylum rules, reported RTS. Anyone entering Switzerland would face controls. If such checks conflict with international treaties, the Federal Council would be required to renegotiate them—or, failing that, pull out. Exceptions would apply for Swiss citizens, residents with valid permits of at least a year, and cross-border commuters. The initiative would bar asylum seekers arriving via a “safe” country and cap applications at 5,000 a year. Provisional admission—a status protecting people from…

On 28 September 2025, Zurich voters approved a citywide ban on petrol-powered leaf blowers. Only electric models will be allowed—and then only from October to December, the autumn season. Exemptions may be granted for major events such as Sechseläuten—Zurich’s traditional festival—and the Street Parade. The measure was backed by the city executive and a majority of the municipal council. Centre-right parties fought the proposal as petty meddling that would raise costs for municipal and private gardeners alike. Supporters argued the devices are noisy and harmful to fauna. They have now prevailed not only in the council chamber but at the…