Author: switzerlandtimes.ch

Opinion formation varies across the four proposals to be voted on 8 March. It is most advanced for the initiative targeting SRG SSR, where 85% of likely voters say they have made up their minds. More than two-thirds also report firm positions on the cash initiative, the climate fund initiative and individual taxation. By contrast, views remain more fluid on the counter-proposal to the cash initiative: only 55% express a settled intention. Turnout is currently projected at 48%, close to the long-term average of 47.1% recorded between 2011 and 2024. Cash initiative: still ahead, but losing groundThe cash initiative retains…

A delegation from Switzerland’s federal parliament travelled to Washington this week for talks with members of Congress and American economic officials, with the prospect of a bilateral trade agreement high on the agenda, reported RTS. The visit had been planned for some time but has acquired greater urgency amid renewed turbulence in American trade policy. After parts of Donald Trump’s tariff regime were struck down by the Supreme Court, the former president responded with fresh duties, adding to uncertainty for trading partners. On Tuesday the Swiss EFTA/EU delegation met Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, as well as two…

Regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Switzerland is set to return to the ballot box. A popular initiative titled “For food without genetically modified organisms” was submitted to the Federal Chancellery on Friday with more than 137,000 signatures, comfortably above the 100,000 required to trigger a nationwide vote. The proposal calls for continued strict controls once the current moratorium on GM crops expires. It seeks to enshrine consumer choice, safeguard GM-free agriculture and uphold the precautionary principle, particularly in relation to organic farming. Martin Graf, president of the Association for GMO-free Food, said Swiss consumers wanted to retain the…

Member states of the European Union have approved the signing of a package of agreements with Bern, giving their political blessing on Tuesday. The next step, according to the Council, is expected in March. The decision marks a logical step in strengthening our long-standing relations, said Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s deputy minister for European affairs, in a statement issued by the Council. The accords reflect a commitment to a stronger and more autonomous Union that remains open to the world. The 27 EU ministers for European affairs met in Brussels as part of the General Affairs Council. The meeting was chaired…

Redevance (or Medienabgabe in German) is a word much heard since the launch of the “200 francs is enough!” initiative, on which voters will decide on March 8th. The levy is a compulsory annual charge paid by every household in Switzerland, whether or not they consume radio or television. Some firms pay it, too. Collection is handled by Serafe, a private company mandated by the Federal Council. It gathers roughly CHF 1.4bn a year. Where does the money go?Most of it—88%—finances the programmes of the Swiss public broadcaster, SSR. A further 6% is distributed to private regional radio and television…

Switzerland’s federal government closed 2025 with a financing surplus of CHF 0.3bn, rather than the CHF 0.8bn deficit forecast in the budget. The improvement of more than CHF 1bn was largely due to temporary additional tax revenue from the canton of Geneva. Ministers caution that the windfall should not be mistaken for a change in trend. Karin Keller-Sutter, the finance minister, said in Bern that the better-than-expected result did not alter the need for the government’s planned relief package from 2027. Even with the savings programme currently before parliament and a proposed VAT increase to fund defence and security spending,…

A group of Swiss politicians and hospitality industry representatives is pushing back against the World Health Organization, which in 2023 argued that no level of alcohol consumption can be considered risk-free, reported SRF. The agency maintains that even small amounts of wine, beer or spirits increase health risks. Critics in Switzerland say that position overstates the scientific case. At the centre of the dispute is Benedikt Würth, a centrist member of the Council of States from St Gallen. He argues that the WHO’s zero-risk-free framing lacks nuance. Studies show correlations between alcohol and disease, he says, but do not always…

Political polarisation has become a hallmark of many democracies, as parties harden their positions and voters sort into rival camps. Switzerland, long regarded as a model of consensus politics, has not escaped the trend. Signs of strain have been visible since the 1990s. One way to gauge polarisation is to examine how consistently voters vote with their party. In Switzerland that cohesion is most pronounced at the ideological fringes. Data from Smartmonitor, a parliamentary tracking platform, show that members of the Socialist Party (SP/PS) were the most aligned in 2025: 97.2% of their votes followed the party line, after 98.1%…

On March 8th Swiss voters will decide whether to replace joint taxation of married couples with individual taxation. The reform aims to abolish the so-called marriage penalty, whereby spouses are taxed on their combined income rather than separately. Married couples are most directly affected, but the change would reshape federal direct tax for many households. A calculator published by RTS illustrates the likely effects. Consider two married couples with children and identical total incomes. If the reform passes, one would pay several thousand francs less in federal direct tax than today; the other several thousand more. The difference lies not…

Donald Trump has once more invoked Switzerland’s trade surplus to justify his trade policy, arguing that the prosperity of such countries depends on American generosity. In an interview broadcast on Fox Business on Tuesday evening, the president said the United States had “let them exploit us”, referring to Switzerland’s goods trade surplus with the US. He said “Switzerland you think of, you know, as ultra chic, ultra perfect, every…, they’re not. They’re only that way because we allow them to rip us off and make all this money.” He then said he could cite “40 other countries” in a similar…