Swiss central bank payouts down, with overvalued Swiss franc
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Swiss cantons and communes won’t be seeing their budgets boosted this year by additional monies from the Swiss central bank, and a new agreement between the federal government and the bank should remove some of the uncertainty linked to this income.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the Federal Finance Department said Monday 21 November they have reached a new agreement covering how the SNB’s profits are shared, for 2011-2015. The SNB during the next five-year period will be sharing CHF1 billion annually with the 26 cantons assuming the central bank has a profit after it complies with its reserves-building obligations.
“It remains unclear when the next distribution payment will take place, since this will depend on future developments in the financial markets,” the SNB said Monday 21 November.
The bank had no profits in 2010 and appears unlikely to do so in 2011 largely because of the amount it is spending to keep the overvalued Swiss franc from rising. The new agreement is designed to provide greater medium-term stability for cantons and the federation to plan, with a set amount per year, compared to the fluctuations of the most recent five-year period.
Should the central bank’s distribution reserves exceed CHF10 billion, the amount going to the cantons and federal government will be increased, with the finance department and the SNB deciding the amount.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The number of asylum seekers in Switzerland rose 4.9 percent in October, representing 100 more individuals (total, 31 October: 2,142) than in September, new figures from the Federal Migration Office shows. The office says that at the end of September the figures for the second quarter of the year were stable, with a 1.2 percent increase.
Zurich, Bern and Vaud have the largest number of active asylum applications under consideration.
Eritreans and Tunisians remain the two largest groups seeking asylum, with Nigerians third.
Switzerland sent 351 applicants to Italy in October, under the terms of the Dublin Regulation, which is designed to prevent asylum-seekers from applying to several European Union states or to move continually from one to another.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A new federal commission to encourage and develop electronic voting throughout Switzerland has met for the first time. Four federal officials and eight from cantons will oversee the gradual expansion of electronic voting. Cantons Geneva, Neuchatel and Zurich began developing their own electronic systems in 2004 and there are now 13 cantons which use electronic voting, but with a variety of systems that will need to be coordinated.
The first federal level votes electronically will take place in October when 22,000 Swiss Abroad will be able to vote in elections to the lower house of parliament. The last cantonal elections, in February 2011, saw 177,500 people use electronic votes.
Swiss taxes varied considerably from one city to another in 2010
Swiss taxes take a bigger bite in Neuchatel than in Zug
Update 22 July (new files added at end) BERN, SWITZERLAND – That magic moment in the year is here, when Bern tells Swiss taxpayers where they were best off, living or dying, in 2010, so the rest of the holidays can be spent planning a move. There is Zug, for those who are rich and single, or if you are married and have two children and you’re living in Neuchatel, Zug but also Geneva will look very good.
Federal income tax is a small part of the three-tiered tax system, with cantonal taxes usually the largest and communal taxes varying the most widely. Zug retains its champion’s title of the cheapest place in Switzerland from a tax standpoint, while Neuchatel remains one of the most expensive, for individuals.
Sample comparisons culled from the 2010 figures, published 21 July by the Federal tax office:
Single, no children, cantonal, communal and parish (if Catholic) taxes, on income of CHF100,000
Add on CHF2,067 for federal income tax
Zurich: CHF11,637 / 9.64%
Zug: CHF6,148 / 5.08%
Bern: CHF14,982 / 14.98%
Basel: CHF16,472 / 16.47%
Lausanne: CHF16,162 /16.06%
Neuchatel: CHF18,639 / 18.64%
Geneva: CHF15’370 / 15.37%
If you make CHF200,000, tax rates range from Zug’s 9.72% to Neuchatel’s 23.71%.
Married, two children, cantonal, communal and parish (if Catholic) taxes, federal tax not included, on income of CHF100,00, one spouse working
Add on CHF907 for federal income tax
Zurich: CHF6,136 / 6.14%
Zug: CHF6,148 / 5.08%
Bern: CHF8,710 / 8.71%
Basel: CHF7,690 / 7.69%
Lausanne: CHF9,175 /9.18%
Neuchatel: CHF10,054 / 10.05%
Geneva: CHF3,202 / 3.20%
If you make CHF200,000, tax rates range from Zug’s 4.43% to Neuchatel’s 17.91%.
When both spouses work the tax rate tends to be 2-3 percentage points higher, except in Zug, where it is half the rate, and in Geneva, where it is double the rate.
Inheritance taxes: avoid Graubuenden
Swiss inheritance taxes are not collected by several cantons, but Graubuenden has the highest rate and Lausanne is the rare city to collect a communal tax in addition to the cantonal one. It’s better to be a son or daughter inheriting than to inherit from a brother or sister, and beware, nieces and nephews, you’ll have to pay more when your uncle’s lovely chalet passes into your hands.
Swiss tax burden, by canton (Ger/Fre), pdf
Swiss tax burden, comparison, communes, pdf
Geneva, marked by much coming (growth) despite the going (exodus): companies, individuals
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva comes out looking pretty but at a price, in the latest “location quality” comparison drawn up by bank Credit Suisse for Swiss cantons. The report issued 22 June says Geneva’s growing economic success is thanks in particular to the availability of high quality labour and its easy accessibility. Geneva’s growth rate from 1995-2008 was the strongest in French-speaking Switzerland.
Victim of its success leads to greater regional cooperation
The canton is nevertheless a victim of its own success, the report notes, with companies and individuals moving to neighboring canton Vaud and across the border to France. A growing regional cooperation is developing as a result, the report notes.
Geneva is one of the country’s smallest cantons, at 282 square kilometres but it is ranked fourth for dynamic economic performance by the bank after Zurich, Zug and Aargau, wth the last two benefitting from their proximity to Zurich.
Geneva’s strength comes from its mixed role as a home to international organizations and as Switzerland’s second international financial centre plus main centre for private wealth management, but it has also been growing rapidly as a trading centre for raw materials. It is gradually going through a transformation from cutting edge industries to cutting edge value-added business, which means that measuring by the value created per employee is one of the country’s highest.
Disposable income in Geneva is by far the lowest in Switzerland
The downside is that Geneva has the tax rates, corporate and personal, that are among Switzerland’s highest, with some of the most costly housing in the country. As a result, Geneva’s regional disposable income, or RDI, used to calculate the financial attractiveness of cantons for residence, is by far the lowest in Switzerland.
Credit Suisse points to the exodus towards France and neighbouring towns, notably Nyon, Rolle and Morges, as the direct result of these high costs, both for companies and individuals.
Zurich's Bahnhof "guardian angel", by Niki de Saint Phalle, might need to help pad travellers pocketbooks in 2012
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Hospital as well as some train fares in Switzerland are expected to rise significantly in 2012, based on preliminary remarks by a Swiss health organization and the CFF rail company Tuesday 3 May.
Santésuisse 3 May announced that it expects to see hospital costs rise by 1.6 percent overall in Switzerland, but with some significant differences around the country: Genevans can expect to pay 4.5 percent more and residents of canton Vaud 1.5 percent more, while Ticino is the rare canton that can expect to see hospitalization cost considerably less, down 7.6 percent.
Cantons will share costs
The change is due to an agreement just reached by the cantons and that goes into effect in January 2012. Hospitals have until now charged based on the cost of services delivered, but they will in future charge a fixed amount for a service, based on calculations of overall services provided throughout the country, with the cost shared and spread by the cantons. The new agreement will share hospitalization charges more equitably across the country.
Track 7, first class, year-round subscription and commune tickets to go up
Vaud a laggard in mapping flood dangers
Swiss communes, January 2011 state of 10-year natural dangers mapping project, "floods" (source, federal environment office)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Landslides, falling rocks, avalanches and floods: the bulk of the work is done for some dangers, but not all in the 10-year Swiss project to carefully map risks for these natural dangers.
The project is scheduled to end by December 2011, but the federal government says some larger cantons, which have not been able to complete the work on time, will need until the end of 2013 to finish their work.
None of canton Vaud’s communes, for example, had completed their flood risk mapping by January 2011, when the federal map seen here was established to show the state of work.
Dark green indicates “available and integrated into the commune’s development plans” while light green means only “available”, yellow is “work en route”, orange “partly available”, red “not available” and gray “not necessary”.
The natural dangers mapping project is part of a larger environmental mapping project for Switzerland, with much of the information already available on an interactive map that can be accessed in English. Instructions for using it are available in French, German and Italian, but not English.
How to use the federal environmental maps
If you want details about your commune, for example, start by going to “search” at the top left, put in the name of your canton, then commune. Then select the “maps” tab next to the “search” one and tick boxes (but not all) you want to view for that area. Selecting Sion, which had a major earthquake several hundred years ago, then the maps for earthquakes, history and risks,
More feet on Swiss soil by 2035: up to +20% in Vaud, Zurich
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland 29 March released its population growth forecasts for the next 25 years showing that while growth is expected everywhere, it will be most concentrated in the Lake Geneva region and around Zurich.
Cantons Vaud, Fribourg to grow by 20 percent in 25 years
The strongest growth, 20 percent, is expected in cantons Vaud and Fribourg, while in Jura, Neuchatel and Uri it will likely be only 2-3 percent. The high growth areas are expected to have “relatively favourable net migration and a sufficiently high birth rate to compensate for the increase in the rising number of deaths”, says Bern.
The figures are determined by comparing three hypotheses which, Bern takes pains to note, are done at the national level and which have certain statistical constraints as a result.
Some cantons, including Geneva, do their own projections, which may differ from the federal ones because different hypotheses are used.
Switzerland: IMF checks economic winds in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The IMF (International Monetary Fund) in its annual country report on Switzerland says the economy is broad-based in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. It is forecasting 2.1 percent growth for 2011 and 1.8 percent in 2012, when it expects exports to fall.
“Domestic demand is benefiting from low interest rates, increased employment and continuing immigration. In spite of the strength of the Swiss franc, exports have grown due to increased global demand.” Geopolitical tensions could have a negative impact and are the biggest risk factor, agreed the IMF team, who visited Switzerland from 18 to 28 March. Tensions in the euro zone could also spark difficulties.
The SNB (Swiss National Bank) could consider tightening monetary policy, the IMF group says, with rebuilding its capital a priority. The central bank’s capital was drained during the crisis, as were those of many governments. Future dividends to the cantons and the Confederation should be made subject to the ability of the SNB to replenish its capital.
The heaviest criticism was reserved for the banking regulatory system, which needs further work, according to the IMF. The Federal Department of Finance will create a working group to follow up one issue: the mandates of the SNB and Finma, the financial supervisory body, should be clarified, according to the IMF.
Additional capital requirements provided for in the Federal Council’s “too big to fail” consultation draft will be instrumental in limiting the risks posed by systemically important banks. Consequently, the IMF experts warn against allowing overly generous “rebate” possibilities. Switzerland’s new capital requirements are among the most stringent in the world, going well beyond bank capital requirements that are part of the new, global BIS (Bank for International Settlements) Basel agreement.
In the mortgage market, the IMF sees a certain degree of easing in financial institutions’ lending standards, says Bern. “The interest-rate sensitivity of banks’ balance sheets has increased due to the tendency towards fixed-rate mortgages with long maturities” and the IMF is in favour of “implementing more conservative affordability standards”, which could be bad news for new home owner wannabes.
The IMF has given its support to several ongoing improvements:
- “The neutral fiscal position to be expected over the next few years is considered appropriate” says Bern’s statement on the IMF visit
- the measures to restructure disability insurance must continue
- the IMF welcomes the ongoing efforts to strengthen financial planning and statistics.
Electronic voting inches ahead in Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The popular referendum in Switzerland Sunday 13 February failed to take firearms out of Swiss homes, but it gave a boost to electronic voting. Twelve cantons continued to test electronic systems for federal voting, and there were no problems, according to Bern.
The turnout for potential electronic voters was low, with fewer than 15 percent of the 177,500 citizens who are eligible to use these systems taking advantage of them for the 13 February vote.
About one-third of those eligible, 55,000 Swiss, live abroad.
The 12 cantons plan to continue implementing electronic voting. “A handful” of cantons have shown interest in offering voters an electronic option for the October 2011 federal elections and preparations are underway to help them, according to Bern.
Lausanne train station: another set of tracks heading towards Geneva is on the books for 2018
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Canton Vaud Tuesday 1 February approved the funds that will allow a third rail line for the congested Geneva-Lausanne tracks to be built in 2018 instead of four years later, as the federal government had planned.
The area’s population has been growing rapidly for the past 20 years and projections are that the rate of increase will remain strong: the area west of Lausanne is expected to grow by 20,000-30,000 people by 2020.
Cantons Vaud and Geneva in December 2009 signed an agreement with the Federal Transport Office to find the funds for loans to the CFF rail company to advance several critical projects.
Yesterday the canton approved nearly CHF200 million for four projects: additional crossings in Mies and Chambesy, pre-financing for the Lausanne-Renens third rail line, modernization of the Renens train station and feasibility studies for the Geneva-Lausanne additional rail line.
Geneva financing approval en route
Sample biometric residence card, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland Monday 24 January begins issuing biometric residence permits to foreigners who are from outside the European Union or Efta (European Free Trade Association). Note for holders of residence permits: existing permits remain valid until the expiry date listed on them.
The new biometric residence permits, used with a passport, give the holder free travel without a visa, throughout the Schengen area.
The credit card size documents contain a biometric chip with data that will be stored for five years by the canton that issues it.
Huge money-laundering “pyramid” operation uncovered
Police seek local Tamils who were victims to give evidence
Bern and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ten members of LTTE, the Sri Lankan Tamil independence movement, who are resident in Switzerland were arrested Tuesday 11 January after police in several cantons raided 23 locations across the country. The sweep, coordinated by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office, is the culmination of investigations that began in 2009 into money laundering operations and extortion of Tamils living in Switzerland.
The 10 have been charged with threatening behaviour, extortion, forgery of a document, money laundering, membership of, and aiding and abetting, a criminal organization. Victims in Switzerland were put under severe pressure, threatened, or subjected to extortion, according to Bern.
Police have set up a special phone line for victims and witnesses:
“who have knowledge of the operating methods of some members of the LTTE or similarly acting organizations. A special toll free phone line 0800 10 20 60 has been established for receiving relevant information. This number must only be used for relevant information in the aforementioned proceedings.”
The federal prosecutor’s office has provided a description of how the group worked, collecting millions of francs that were then used for their personal gain as well as to buy arms for Tamil Tigers, through what Bern calls an effective pyramid scheme in Switzerland:
“The money was obtained through various methods and involving different companies. The accused persons forced their fellow countrymen to borrow excessive amounts of money and to hand over the funds to the LTTE. The loans were mostly taken out based on falsified salary statements and the loan amounts considerably exceeded the actual financial means of the individual borrowers. Those who refused to help with the raising of funds were threatened and faced the prospect of reprisals. The bulk of the money, totalling several million Swiss francs, was transferred to Sri Lanka, primarily with the help of couriers via third states, or in small amounts through bank transactions. To disguise the true origin of the funds, they were invested in companies with connections to the LTTE conducting legal business.”
The raids took place in cantons Graubuenden, Zurich, St Gallen, Lucerne, Solothurn, Bern, Fribourg, Vaud, Geneva and Basel.
Digital age facilitates more frequent census-taking and broader range of information
Annual census in Switzerland to more closely, quickly track the population
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government is moving to an annual national census, a ground shift in how the population is counted and how other data is gathered, Bern announced 21 December. The first day of the new census will be 31 December 2010, but don’t expect a phone call that day from people counters. Only about 5 percent of the population will be surveyed, in writing or by phone, at the start, with questions that round out data supplied by official registers in all the country’s communes and cantons.
The new system will save the government some CHF100 million.
Cantons and cities will begin to gather a broader range of data to contribute to the national census, which will also take data from federal registers, notably for housing information. Surveys of 10-20,000 people will present five themes, rotating so that one is presented each year. A survey of 3,000 people covering current affairs will be carried out each year, as well.
Pressure grows on Bern to
The Gotthard tunnel, the day it was pierced: seen by the EC as a project critical to the future of European rail travel, came in for praise in the EC 2010 report
Bern, Switzerland and Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) – The European Commission (EC) came down hard on Switzerland 14 December for the low tax rates offered by some Swiss cantons and confirmed it wants to find a simpler way to work together than through the current maze of bilateral agreements.
The EC made the expected statements in a report, the first review since 2008, on European Union and Efta relations. Efta has four members who are not EC members: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
A series of taxing discussions where EU condemns Swiss “state aid”
Harshest criticism was reserved for some Swiss cantons, which are attracting European companies with low tax rates (see swissinfo video, below). This has long been one of the greatest divides between Switzerland and the EU, and the philosophical gap is clearly not closing. According to the EC:
“The Council remains very concerned regarding certain cantonal company tax regimes of Switzerland creating an unacceptable distortion of competition, and reaffirms its position on this matter. It regrets that the lengthy dialogue on this issue has not yet led to an abolition of the state aid aspects of these regimes. The Council reiterates its call on Switzerland to abolish these tax incentives and to avoid taking internal measures, such as certain aspects of the New Swiss Regional Policy [ed. note: covering state aid for under-populated rural and mountain areas], which would be incompatible with the Agreement and may have the effect of distorting competition between EU border regions and Switzerland.”
But the Swiss take a different view:
Lake Geneva's boats have bluer skies, fairer weather ahead
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The CGN boat company that runs Lake Geneva’s Belle Epoque paddlewheelers as well as commuter ferries will be able to stay afloat, literally, thanks to a decision by canton Vaud to create a holding company. The compromise solution to the company’s financial difficulties appear to be acceptable to its partners, neighbouring cantons, as well as employees.
The Compagnie générale de navigation was faced earlier this year with difficulties in making payments because of a CHF8 million loss that was the result of covering its pension plan.
Lausanne, Zurich bottom of list in annual public administration school review
Swiss cantons financial index, source, IDHEAP, 2010. Legend: combined index, financial health, financial management
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Neuchatel fare well in the annual review of 20 Swiss cities by Idheap, the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration in Lausanne. Zurich and Lausanne do less well, figuring at the bottom of the list.
The school, which publishes a number of studies and regular reports on Swiss public finances, presented the 2009 comparative report to journalists 24 November, although the report came out in late October. It measures the financial health of the Swiss confederation, the cantons and a selection of cities. It bases its ranking on two main factors: the extent to which expenses are covered by revenues and the quality of financial management.
Lausanne and Geneva, contrast in financial management
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Santiago Penados de Rivero, 10, wanted to join his mother Thursday morning 11 November, like so many other children in Geneva and Vaud who took part in the bring your kid to work day, which 11 Swiss cantons offered last week. Juliette de Rivero, his mother, is the Geneva advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, an NGO, and her work day included plans to meet with other advocacy groups representatives as well as some UN member government agencies in her role observing the UN Human Rights Council meetings at the UN, reports Foreign Policy magazine. But Santiago was stopped at the door and the pair were told he did not have the right to enter.
The guard told his mother that “Geneva ends when you step foot in this building. This is not Switzerland,” reports Foreign Policy. The UN communications office in Geneva later clarified that while UN employees and diplomats may bring their children, other children must have advance security clearance. Santiago, for his part, sat down and wrote a letter of protest, arguing for his rights.
In canton Vaud in 2010 more than 14,000 children joined their parents at work for the day. Figures for Geneva and for this year are not yet available.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - ‘Tis the season for electricity companies to tell us what we should budget for electricity for the next year, and the answer throughout Switzerland is: the price is rising.
ElCom, the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission, announced 7 September that on average Swiss households (family in a 5-room apartment, annual consumption 4,500 kWh) will pay 2o.2 kWh (kilowatt hours), a 2 percent increase, while small companies can expect a 3-4 percent increase for an average price of 19.7 kWh. French-speaking Switzerland generally has higher electricity costs than northern Switzerland.
Seventy-five percent of electricity companies have raised their prices, 20 percent have reduced them slightly and for 5 percent, there is no change.
The country’s 450 electricity suppliers had until the end of August to announce their 2011 rates to the government. The main reason for the increase is a 5-8 percent rise in the cost of raw electricity, says ElCom.
Swissgrid, the association of electricity suppliers, in May 2010 announced a price increase of 8 percent across the board, but the federal electricity commission intervened to temporarily freeze the prices of suppliers for 2011, saying they appeared to be unjustified. Swissgrid said at the time that “the main reason for the rate increase is that a considerably larger proportion of auction revenues for the long-term reliability of supply are to be used for essential investments in the transmission system than in the prior year – and less will be used for a short-term reduction in tariffs.” Swissgrid was created in 2007 to liberalize the Swiss electricity market.
Check out your rate increase and the explanation for it, compare with 2010 rates
ElCom in 2009 set up an online consultation site that lets consumers check prices in their communes for a variety of types of homes and businesses, compare these to villages and towns throughout Switzerland and see the breakdown of costs for the rates for each town.
Swiss-wide smoking ban - Photo Flickr Hance Gessell
Update 2 May A new Swiss federal smoking ban went into effect 1 May.
The new law seeks to bar smoking from all public places but allows it in some confined, closed areas. Cantons may enforce looser or stricter rules.
World Radio Switzerland carries a conversation featuring activists on both sides of the debate.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss citizens who put in time as volunteer firefighters will be treated on a par for tax purposes with the citizen militia and people who opt for civil service instead of the military. Daily allowances and pocket money up to CHF3,000 a year should be exempt from federal tax, the Swiss Federal Council said Wednesday morning 21 April in a recommendation to parliament. A ceiling was set to avoid abuses and professional firefighters and managers will continue to be taxed on their income. Bern expects the measure to cost CHF18-26 million in lost income.
Fire department operations are overseen by cantons, not the federal government in Switzerland, but communes generally have responsibility for fighting fires.
Click on image to view larger. Bottom shows income in CHF1,000s, with number of taxpayers shown in blue columns (Source: Swiss Federal Tax Office, 26.02.2010)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Department of Finance Friday 26 February published data that could well distract many Swiss away from the current debates on banking secrecy: a commune-by-commune map of taxable income. It is part of a larger set of maps that list minimum, median and maximum taxable income for 2006 and 2003, with a comparison to 1995-96, and more, to show how changing demographics affect revenue.
The maps may be designed to show how income is spread in the country, to better help politicians, but they make fascinating reading for anyone who wonders why the price of housing in the area around Nyon has skyrocketed in the past 10 years, for example.
The answer: a housing shortage, of course, but also a population whose income as a whole has shot up.
A few of your neighbouring villages’ average incomes:
Geneva, with the city itself having an average income of CHF68,000 -
- Vandoeuvres, with CHF190,164 on average beats out Collonges-Bellevue by nearly CHF30,000
- around Lake Geneva and out among the vineyards, Cartigny and Aire-la-ville are comfortable with CHF105,000 approximately
- Genthod is not for the poor, with an average of nearly CHF224,000
Nyon area
- Incomes in town are not the highest, averaging out to CHF73,000 (but Morges, a similar size, is CHF63,000)
- nearby towns have wealthier residents: CHF126,000 for Céligny, CHF110,000 for Trélex, CHF118,000 for Givrins, CHF116,000 for Genolier.
Lausanne, with the city itself having an average income of CHF60,000 -
- Pully, Grandvaux and Lutry are all over CHF85,000
- On the other side, towards Morges, quiet Denens is CHF99,000 and Vufflens-le-Chateau CHF135,000 and truly quiet Montricher up the hill is CHF144,000.
The towns with the highest numbers often prove to have the greatest spread between high and low earners.
First the cantons vote to ban smoking, now the anti-ban groups want to vote on new federal law
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland adopts a country-wide no smoking ban in May, but opponents are not taking the change in stride. A group defending the cafes and restaurants, the Légitime défense des cafés romands en péril Association, 3 February delivered a petition with 80,000 signatures, from French-speaking cantons, to the Chancellery in Bern, demanding a new vote. Theirs joins a similar petition from German-speaking cantons, delivered to Bern in December, with 64,000 signatures.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank expects to see a “large profit” of CHF10 billion for 2009, thanks to the rapid rise in the price of gold and currency fluctuations during the year. The valuation of the gold holdings of the central bank rose by CHF7.3 billion during the year, with the price of gold moving between about $800 and $1,200 an ounce (chart).
The bank’s foreign currency positions brought in another CHF2b.
The profits are shared in part with the federal and cantonal governments, some CHF2.5b.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Chinese Embassy in Bern 18 December warned the Swiss government over offers to take two brothers, inmates at the US Guantanamo centre in Cuba, but Bern says it was already clear that China was not happy, and the diplomatic issues were already under review. The Chinese warning surfaced in Swiss media this week when Le Matin Thursday published the story, later confirmed by the Swiss Police and Justice (SPJ) office.
The warning letter in fact came at a time of some confusion over Swiss offers to take Guantanamo detainees, the SPJ ministry has told media. One canton, Geneva, has to date officially offered, with federal government support, to take one inmate, an Ouzbek man.
Update 2, 22:45 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Years of arguing and debate over the need for the Lake Geneva region to rapidly develop its train service were brought to a close Monday 21 December with a framework agreement signed by the federal and cantonal governments and the CFF rail company. The agreement acknowledges that the Geneva-Lausanne area is one of the fastest-growing in Switzerland and states the intent of the signing parties to develop a rail network and service that match the rapidly changing need for public transport in the area.
Third and possibly fourth rail line planned
The two cantons have agreed to put up CHF312 million in pre-financing for several projects, designed to speed up the project. The 20-year plan, to 2030, will increase the frequency of trains to one every 15 minutes between Lausanne and Geneva. The number of seats will double by 2020. Several congestion points are targeted: Mies in Vaud and Chambésy in Geneva plus the freight passing line between Nyon and Coppet. The three-phase plan calls for the main lines and RER regional system to be improved first, then the third rail line between Renens and Allaman to be built during a second phase, when the system will also be extended in the area west of Geneva. Main train stations will be modernized.
The third phase will involve building a fourth rail line and improving public transport access to Geneva’s airport.
Shared Internet news ok, but not on radio and TV
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The merger of TSR, public television in French-speaking Switzerland, and RSR, public radio, is meeting some resistance from cantonal governments, which insist the two editorial teams must remain separate and independent. Vaud and Geneva, in a joint statement released Monday 23 November, say they would also like to see the traditional roles maintained of Lausanne as a radio centre and Geneva as a television centre. The statement was made in advance of today’s presentation of the merger project to the board of SSR, the parent company.
Home, sweet (green?) home, Carouge, Geneva
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Homeowners grabbed at the chance to get energy certificates at a bargain rate, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) says, with 15,000 energy certificates sold in only three weeks following the announcement that a certificate and annexed expert report would cost only CHF200 instead of the usual CHF1,200. The cantonal building energy certificate (CECB) establishes the energy efficiency of a building and is useful as a guide to current and future energy use.
Lausanne 2009 - down to Earth and back to the books soon
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Bern has decided to coordinate school vacations so they will in future be the same for children in German-speaking and French-speaking communes: this week the German-speakers started back to school and next week the French-speakers return. The decision about school holidays has until now been the perogative of the communes, rather than the canton. The cantonal education minister says the request for change comes from parents, who sometimes have children in more than one commune and who can’t coordinate family vacations.
That still leaves the problem of coordinating two-canton vacations for families with children in Geneva and Vaud, for example, particularly if they have children in private schools, where residence is less of an issue but cantonal public school calendars are sometimes observed.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A controversial study scheduled for publication in the Journal of Public Economics shows that Geneva could reduce its taxes by 48% and Vaud by 27% without cutting any services Le Matin Dimanche reports. Ed. note: the working paper, published in April 2008, is available online in English.
