Author: switzerlandtimes.ch

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…

Swiss voters will decide on two federal questions on June 14th, the Federal Council confirmed on Wednesday: a popular initiative to cap population growth and a tightening of access to civilian service, challenged by referendum. A ceiling on populationThe first proposal, launched by the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) and titled “No Switzerland of 10 million!”, seeks stricter controls on immigration to ensure that the country’s permanent resident population does not exceed 10m by 2050. The federal authorities would be required to act once the population surpasses 9.5m. Under the initiative, persons admitted on a provisional basis would no longer be…

Swiss voters appear reluctant to raise value-added tax (VAT) to finance either higher defence spending or a 13th monthly state pension, according to a survey conducted for Blick. Opposition spans the political spectrum. More than three-quarters of the roughly 15,000 respondents in German- and French-speaking Switzerland rejected a temporary 0.8 percentage-point increase in VAT to fund additional resources for the armed forces. Resistance was similarly strong to a 0.7-point increase to finance the newly approved 13th payment of the state pension. Two-thirds said they were clearly or rather opposed; only 21% were somewhat in favour and 13% clearly in favour.…

Scott Poynton, a forester based near Nyon in the canton of Vaud, spent last Wednesday in unusual company. In northern Ghana he met eight women who had taken their livelihoods firmly into their own hands. Impressed by their initiative, he later dubbed them the “Inspiration Sisters”, a title they accepted with quiet pride. The encounter took place in Kugolugo, a village in Tolon district, west of Tamale, the capital of Ghana’s Northern Region. Poynton was there to discuss biochar and its potential to restore soils degraded by decades of ploughing and heavy use of chemical fertilisers. Biochar is a form…

Switzerland may bid to host the 2038 Winter Olympics—despite a long record of public resistance, reports SRF. Voters rejected Olympic projects in cantonal referendums in 2013, 2017 and 2018—Graubunden twice then Valais. This time, however, the proposal is being advanced without a vote. The bid is being prepared by Swiss Olympic, which argues that past rejections are a poor guide. Earlier proposals centred on a single host region that would also shoulder most of the costs. The new concept, dubbed “Games à la Suisse”, would be decentralised, rely largely on existing infrastructure and spread responsibilities across the country. All previous…

On March 8, voters in Aargau will decide whether to reduce social assistance for people who have relied on welfare for more than two years, reports SRF. The proposal, launched by the youth wing of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), reflects a broader debate over how far social aid should go—and how hard it should push recipients back into work. The popular initiative, titled Work must pay, would lower the basic welfare allowance by at least 5% for long-term recipients. Exemptions would apply to children, parents of infants under four months, and people aged 55 and over—but only if they…