Regional trains, especially in border areas, suffered losses as tourism dropped when the franc climbed
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Four rail groups are receiving CHF21 million in aid from the Swiss government to offset some of the losses they suffered in 2011 due to the rapid increase in the value of the Swiss franc during the year.
All four provide transalpine shipping and use combined or piggyback cargo transport, carrying trucks to reduce the environmental impact on the Alps.
The government in 2011 set aside more than CHF28m in credit for which companies could apply, showing the losses directly linked to the currency’s sudden rise. Four presented their figures at the start of 2012 and will be helped out of the funds set aside: BLS Cargo, CFF Cargo International, Crossrail and TX Logistik.
Another CHF11.2m was distributed in December 2011 to a number of transport companies, mainly regional, which lost money because of a sharp fall in tourism due to the high franc.
Paul Richli will prepare report on SNB governance reform needs
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government is beginning a review of the possible need to reform governance of the Swiss National Bank. The cabinet Wednesday 25 January announced that it has asked Professor Paul Richli to draw up an external expert report that outlines “the tasks and responsibilities currently regulated in the National Bank legislation in connection with supervision of the SNB”. He will also look at the “constitutional room for manoeuvre in terms of possible amendments”, says the Federal Council.
Two federal offices, Justice and Finance Administration, have also been instructed “to submit a proposal for an additional mandate to examine corporate governance within the SNB more closely.”
An interdepartmental working group led by the Federal Office of Personnel has been asked to draw up recommendations for a uniform set of rules if necessary after examining”the existing code of conduct on the abuse of insider information in the Federal Administration”.
The moves come in the wake of the resignation of Philipp Hildebrand as chairman of the Swiss National Bank after a scandal involving family assets. Hildebrand was found innocent of wrongdoing, but the affair prompted widespread calls in Switzerland for a review of the regulations governing board members.
Richli is the rector of the University of Lucerne and he has held, since 2001, the chair of the department of public aw, agricultural law, and theory of drafting legislation at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne.
Zurich's new Prime Tower, just opened: fully occupied, despite gloomy economic news - a sign of faith in the turnaround?
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Secretariat for the Economy, Seco, has revised downward its GDP growth projections for 2012, from 0.9 percent forecast in September to 0.5 percent, following a trend set by major banks’ and others’ research departments. A major impact will be a significant rise in unemployment, Seco notes.
The jobless rate is expected to peak at 3.9 percent at the end of 2012, then slip back down, with annual rates of 3.1 percent in 2011 (currently 3 percent), 3.6 percent in 2012 and 3.7 percent in 2013.
Bern has qualified the economy’s situation as experiencing “a clear slowdown”, but notes that nothing indicates “a bottoming-out similar to what was seen at the end of 2008″, with the global impact of the Lehman Brothers crash, nor is a rapid degradation expected. The accumulated negative impact of the strong Swiss franc, now at CHF1.23 to the euro, is putting the brakes on investment and exports.
The good news is that the slowdown is expected to be temporary, assuming the eurozone debt crisis does not worsen, and in 2013 Swiss GDP growth is forecast to rise again, to 1.9 percent.
Sovereign debt crises in a number of countries, notably in the eurozone, and flagging consumer confidence as well as corporate investment confidence are key factors behind the expected slowdown. Seco’s Group of Experts who are consulted for the official government quarterly forecasts agree that an “uncontrollable contamination” from the eurozone can be avoided, with financial markets recovering bit by bit throughout 2012.
Seco points to the slight improved situation outside the eurozone, with the US’s “vacillating” situation stabilizing somewhat in the second half of 2011, Japan gradually improving and emerging economies recovering from the initial impact of the rest of the world’s economic woes.
Correction 11.12.11 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The UDC People’s Party, Switzerland’s right-wing party that has often made headlines in recent years for its poster campaigns and rhetoric, is back in the news but this time for the activities of its leaders.
Christophe Blocher, former party leader and a member of the government for several years, has been accused by Swiss media of “secretly” financing the Basler Zeitung newspaper. It was bought by former Crossair CEO Moritz Suter in 2010 after Blcoher’s efforts to by it provoked an outcry in the city: Blocher is from Zurich. but according to Tages Anzeiger, which has led an investigation into a deal between the two businessmen, they have had a secret agreement whereby Blocher is using a straw man to finance the paper and he will be able to buy shares from Suter (see TSR, Fr).
The 7-member Federal Council, or Swiss government, will be elected by parliament Wednesday 14 December and the UDC has just juggled its planned candidates. Hansjörg Walter and Jean-François Rime will be presented to parliament following the abrupt departure from the list by Bruno Zuppiger Thursday 8 December. Zuppiger has been publicly accused of fraud in an inheritance case; he met the press to announce that he was withdrawing his name as a candidate but he refused to answer any questions.
Switzerland: equal work, but not equal pay
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government 5-6 December took part in European Union best practice discussions in Berlin covering how to eliminate salary differences between men and women.
It was invited to join the discussions, hosted by Germany, and present its Logib software, a self-check software programme that the Swiss Confederation uses and which can be used easily, internally, by companies of at least 50 employees.
Germany and Luxembourg are using the software, as are companies in Switzerland that have government contracts.
Swiss companies have shown less enthusiasm, the federal government noted in mid-November, with only 20 companies signing up for a salary review programme.
Recent figures published by the Swiss Justice and Police Department show that men continue to earn nearly 20 percent more than women for equal work.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ireland’s employers’ will soon be asked by the government to foot €150 million to cover the cost of the first four weeks of workers’ sick leave, the Irish Times reports. The cost is currently covered by the Ministry for Social Protection, which has been told to cut its budget in December by €700 million. The newspaper reports that the plan would take a year to implement but the savings could be realized in 2013. It adds that employer groups are likely to oppose the move.
Irish workers’ sick leave and pay, Citizens Information Board
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Irish government is prepared to sell its 25% share in Aer Lingus, the one-time national airline, the Irish Times has learned. The airline, valued at eruos 89 million, was on a list of state assets that could be sold, which was published a week ago, and 14 September the cabinet approved its sale, says the newspaper.
Interested buyers appear to include Air France, Lufthansa and the group that owns BA and Iberia. The sale would be subject to the brand being maintained and Aer Lingus keeping its valuable slots at Heathrow Airport in London.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syrian troops have killed 2,600 people since President Bashar al-Assad began putting down unrest in the country, Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Monday in Geneva. Only one week earlier she said a fact-finding commission had put the number of killings at 2,200.
Syria will be on the agenda during the three week session of the Human Rights Council, which opened Monday morning 12 September in Geneva.
Reuters and Le Temps (Fre) report that the figure is about twice the number released early Monday by the Syrian government. “Bouthaina Shaaban, one of Assad’s advisors, earlier on Monday said about 1,400 people had died — half of them police officers and half opposition activists. Syria blames armed groups and “terrorists” for the violence and argues the security forces are defending public order,” writes Reuters.
Navi Pillay’s opening remarks 12 September at the 18th session of the Human Rights Council
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss federal government reorganized several departments Wednesday 29 June, notably pulling together under the roof of the Department of the Economy the country’s polytechnic and research institutes, and ongoing professional training and technology programmes.
The move underscores the growing importance Switzerland is giving to technology and innovation by creating a common arena to improve education and research ties in these areas. “The Federal Council has taken notice that training highly qualified people, and research and innovation are important assets for Switzerland in terms of attractiveness, competitivity and growth.
The cantons will have closer ties under the new system to the federal polytechnics in Lausanne (EFPL) and Zurich (ETH), universities and specialized graduate schools.
The change takes effect 1 January 2013 but the run-up period and early months of the new system could spark a tough political fight over budgets, with two strong personalities heading the current research, and training and technology programmes, reports Le Temps (Fr).
Muehleberg peaceful anti-nuclear protest, ©2011 Herbi Ditl on flickr
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss parliament’s lower house Wednesday morning 8 June backed the government’s recommendation to close down the country’s nuclear energy plants, voting two to one in favour of several motions similar to the one sent to parliament by the government.
Nuclear power plants currently provide 39.3 percent of the country’s energy, hydroelectric and dams 55.8 percent (TSR has several charts on Swiss energy).
The vote sends a strong signal to the Swiss upper house, the senate, which will vote on the recommendations after the summer session, but no date has been set. It now appears likely that, in line with Wednesday’s vote, existing power plants will be shut down when their current licenses to operate come to an end, by 2034, and that no new plants will be approved.
Budget deal not worked out by Thursday evening, shutdown looms for midnight Friday
“I’m not yet prepared to express wild optimism,” a cautious President Barack Obama told reporters late Thursday 7 April, after talks with House and Senate leaders at the White House, in an attempt to avoid the US government shutting down at midnight Friday. The key issue is a spending bill that Congrress has not managed to pass because of differences over what the NY Times calls “only a few billion dollars . . . a relatively small gap in a $3.5 trillion budget.
Abortion funding and environmental protection projects are two of the key issues, with Republicans insisting on spending cuts for projects Democrats are determined to fund.
Republicans were behind a stopgap bill that would provide one week of funding for most government agencies and one year of military funding, but Obama has said it is a “distraction” and he will veto it.
Federal departments are reportedly preparing to lay off workers and shut down services if a bill is not passed Friday.
Links to other sites: Fox, New York Times, NPR
Protesting to support Wisconsin workers, in Geneva, Switzerland, 4 April 2011 (photo, Maya Samura)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A small group of about 50 people, mainly Americans, responded Monday 4 April to a call from Democrats Abroad to march in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, USA.
The group gathered at the United Nations plaza, and included people from the International Labour Organization and Swiss unions.
Government workers in Wisconsin have been at the centre of a tug of war between the state’s Republicans and Democrats over a new law that, according to Associated Press on NPR, would “force public employees to pay more for their health care and pension benefits, which amounts to an 8 percent pay cut. It also would eliminate their ability to collectively bargain anything except wage increases no higher than inflation.”
Democrats Abroad and others protest in Geneva in support of Wisconsin's state workers
A judge rule Friday 1 April that the law must be put on hold for two months while she studies whether it was passed legally and published correctly.
The proposed law prompted sit-ins and protests in the state capital of Madison for weeks, with thousands of workers from other states providing support. It was finally passed when Democrats left the state to avoid a vote and Republicans found a work-around that they believe allowed them to legally vote for and pass the law.
Continuing protests included about 1,000 groups internationally who marched in their support 4 April, according to Maya Samara of Democrats Abroad in Geneva.
Imagine a world where government officials reply to their constituents directly, and in a timely manner. In Russia, this might become a reality. A bill submitted to the Russian Duma Friday 1 April would require officials to be fined $350 (10,000 rubles) for not responding to letters from citizens suggesting changes and improvements.
Russian officials are currently required to provide information about federal, regional and municipal agencies when requested. Officials who do not reply within 30 days are fined 5,000 rubles, under a law passed in 2006, according to the Moscow Times.
A citizen’s constitutional right to receive a prompt response does not, however, include suggestions made to officials, and the new bill seeks to remedy this. “The bill will make these proposals harder to ignore,” Vladimir Pligin, head of the Duma’s Constitution and State Affairs Committee, is cited as saying, by the Moscow Times.
Rude and indifferent officials are not limited to Russia. Australian citizens phoning the government for help with relatives in the US after hurricane Katrina were hung up on. A US congressman was berated for breaching protocol by calling out and accusing President Obama of lying, and in New Zealand, a local lawyer in 2009 accused staff at the Department of Education of being “rude”.
Links to other sites: The Canberra Times, Capitol Hill Blue, The Moscow Times, The Sydney Morning Herald
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reportedly accepted the resignation of his government Tuesday as new waves of protests rocked the country. At least 37 people have died in protests in the past week, according to the UN in Geneva. The president’s office says he will make what it calls “an important speech” Wednesday 30 March.
Piedad Córdoba, a Colombian politican, and the ICRC helped negotiate the releases - Photo Ricardo Bello
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two hostages were released Friday 11 February by Farc rebels in Colombia. They released another hostage earlier in the week and have said they intend to free two more Sunday.
The International Red Cross (ICRC) based in Geneva, and a former Colombian senator, Piedad Cordoba, have mediated the releases.
Farc is known to be holding at least 15 other hostages.
The two men were released in separate locations near the jungle in Caqueta, a department in the south of the country.
Michael Kramer, deputy head of the ICRC’s Colombian delegation, says that Marcos Baquero, a municipal councillor, who was freed on Wednesday, 9 February, was the first of the group. Kramer details how what happens when a hostage is freed.
“When we receive them, we talk to them for a while at the place of the handover in order to prepare them for a return to their usual environment.” In Baquero’s case, “We are waiting until the ICRC doctor has examined him and has talked to him about his captivity, his family and his expectations. What is striking is the feeling of time loss experienced by people who have been in the hands of an armed group, not to mention the psychological after-effects and the exhaustion caused by captivity.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Canton Geneva’s government president, Mark Muller, says the office that oversees property belonging to the canton is undertaking a vigorous housecleaning, and methodical review of several problem areas. He spoke at a press conference Thursday 9 February, following harsh political and media criticism after an audit brought to light several major problems.
These included buddy prices for some people renting cantonal property and mismanagement of some properties left to the state. The audit called for the government to clean up the situation by the end of 2012 but Muller says the governing council approved plans at a Wednesday night meeting to move more quickly.
Muller insists he will not step down, despite calls for him to do so.
Initial reports government staying at hotel were wrong
Post Hotel, Davos, Switzerland, Thursday morning 27 January: a sculpture by artist Ram Sutarn, 84, of India stands in front of the hotel. (photo, ©2011, World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Andy Mettler
Davos, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Details are unverified and sketchy, but the Swiss free newspaper 20 Minutes has reported that an explosion occurred Thursday morning 27 January in the Hotel de la Poste in Davos and that anti-WEF groups sent an e-mail claiming responsibility and saying a second bomb could go off. Police in Davos state they cannot say what caused the minor explosion but that there have been no injuries.
The hotel houses a group from bank UBS who are attending the World Economic Forum, including Chairman Oswald Gruebel. 20 Minutes initially reported that members of the Swiss Federal Council were in the hotel, but they are staying at another one owned by the same company.
The group, in its e-mail to 20 Minutes, makes it clear it was targeting UBS and the Swiss government.
According to 20 Minutes, the authors of the bomb say it was scheduled to go off at 06:00 to spare employees. It went off at 009:00.
One-quarter of jobs to go
The BBC’s long-discussed budget cuts have finally hit, and it means that five countries will lose World Service broadcasts entirely, while in some other countries programming will be reduced. The five are: Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services plus English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa.
Audiences are expected to fall by 30 million to 150 million. The BBC is looking to save £46 million a year.
The cuts, needed to meet the government-mandated savings of 16 percent, involve the loss of 480 jobs initially, with a total of 650 within four years, out of 2,400 jobs currently.
The BBC in September 2010 had already announced programming cuts that including dropping daily hour-long special coverage of Wimbledon tennis and the Proms music programmes.
Some of the cuts will be offset, the BBC says, by be looking for partnerships in India, Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa. It also plans to increase online videos.
The BBC World Service began operating in 1932.
Links to other sites: China Digital Times on the impact on Chinese BBC service, Guardian, Rapid TV News, Telegraph
Ireland is faced with the prospect of an election earlier than the one the prime minister has called for 11 March, with the Green Party leaving the ruling coalition Sunday 23 January. Prime Minister Brian Cowen called for an election Thursday, after six ministers resigned from the government, and he then said he would not lead his Fianna Fail party after the election. The Green Party says it will support Cowen’s austerity package, which is provoking anger among Irish voters, despite leaving the coalition. The government’s belt-tightening package is attempting to reduce the country’s high level of debt following the bailout of its banks.
Links to other sites: CNN, Irish Times, Telegraph
Update 2, 1945 Geneva and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US Mission in Geneva is under investigation by the Swiss Justice and Police Department (FDJP) and the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department for spying, despite being refused permission by Bern in 2007 to do so. Headlines around the world, based on one AFP story, say Swiss lawmakers are calling for diplomats to be expelled, but there is little evidence of this in Switzerland. NZZ, the Zurich newspaper, broke the story Sunday and Le Temps in Geneva Monday noted without confirmation that the US Mission is suspected of having 25-30 people involved in surveillance. The FDJP has refused to comment on the type of surveillance involved, electronic or humans spying or both, nor are details available about who was spied on, although WikiLeaks makes reference to a Muslim couple spied on in 2005.
The Swiss were alerted by Sweden and Norway in the autumn of 2010 of “indications” the US was running an espionage programme in Geneva, after WikiLeaks turned up evidence of similar surveillance operations there. The government in Bern “immediately approached the US Mission in this matter, reminding the US authorities of the legal force of the Federal Council’s decision of 2007 and demanding suspension of any possible surveillance activities”, according to a statement issued Monday 17 January by the FDJP.
The US mission in Geneva and embassy in Bern in 2006 and 2007 requested the right to establish what are known as Surveillance Detection Programmes. These require “official authorization if they go beyond the range of the immediate vicinity of an embassy,” the Swiss FDJP say in its statement, because they “constitute operations for a foreign state”. A spokesperson in Bern told GenevaLunch that the definition of vicinity is not a question of metres but involves evaluating the “characteristics” of the surveillance and its location.
The Federal Council turned down the requests in August 2007 “for want of a legal or contractual basis” the statement says, and the US embassy was informed about the decision. The situation at the US Mission in Geneva “is under review” says Bern, since it informed the US any such activities must stop.
The US Mission has not commented on the matter, although AP reports US authorities as saying they won’t comment on a security matter. Monday is a public holiday in the US, with government offices closed for Martin Luther King day in remembrance of the civil rights leader.
Swiss aid group calls for Zimbabwe to be barred from Kimberly Process diamonds, cites State torture, child and forced labour
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Indian ministry of commerce is the latest to move against the Zimbabwe diamond trade, asking the country’s traders and jewelry exporters Thursday 9 December to “bide their time” until the Kimberly Process (KP), which certifies diamonds, clarifies Zimbabwe’s compliance, according to SouthWest Radio Africa. Monday the Swiss group Bread for All, a humanitarian alliance of the country’s Protestant churches, called for the Swiss market not to accept Zimbabwe diamonds, citing continued human rights abuse in the Marange diamond area. Switzerland imports $676 million in rough diamonds a year and exports close to $1 billion, in addition to its finished diamonds market.
India imports more diamonds than any other country in the world, based on 2009 KP statistics.
Zimbabwe was barred from KP trading in November 2009 because of alleged human rights abuses at its Chiadzwe mines in the east of the country. The KP’s 49-member group, of which Switzerland and India as well as Zimbabwe are members, ruled in July 2010 that Zimbabwe could resume limited exports, following a visit by a monitor in September. The Indian government’s call to its diamond business is reportedly based on ongoing negotiations between Zimbabwe, which threatens to ignore the KP certification process, and the KP, which wants Zimbabwe to limit exports to better monitor the trade there.
The Kimberly Process describes itself as “a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds–rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these illicit stones has fuelled decades of devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.”
Bread for All has appealed to the Swiss government to insist as a member of the KP not only that Zimbabwe be barred from certification by the Kimberly Process but also to push for a change to the KP rules, which currently define “blood diamonds” only as those handled by rebel groups to finance their wars against governments.
The Swiss organization says it has evidence from its Geneva-based partner, Zimbabwe Advocate, of daily instances of human rights abuse since 2008 by the Zimbabwe government’s army in mines in the east of the country, around Marange. The “human rights violations include forced labour, child labour, torture, beatings and rape. In addition, soldiers are forcing minors to work for them and they are organizing illegal trafficking in diamonds,” according to Bread for All.
Zimbabwe minister berates visiting Norwegians for questions over abuse
Federal Council will consult on plan for how big banks can fail, negotiate withholding tax on foreigners’ accounts
Measles, tougher penal sentences, electricity suppliers, corporate tax rates all on the 2011 schedule
Swiss Federal Council (cabinet): government publishes its 2011 agenda
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Government, fresh from the defeat of its counter-initiative in the vote on foreign convicts 28 November, has set out an ambitious agenda for work it expects to complete in 2011. This will be the final session before a new parliament is elected 23 October 2011.
Two pieces of legislation, one calling for a tougher penal code and the other for greater efforts to integrate foreigners into Swiss society, were planned before the weekend vote, but they must now be coordinated with a constitutional change, the results of the 28 November popular initiative, where Swiss voters chose automatic expulsion of foreign convicts.
Negotiations over undeclared assets in Swiss banks confirmed
The council confirmed Tuesday that negotiations are already underway with some countries, and it intends to open negotiations with other key countries, to “regularize” undeclared assets coming to Swiss banks from outside Switzerland. The main tool Switzerland intends to use is a withholding tax but the government says the negotiations will also include a commitment by the Swiss to “ensure, as far as possible, that undeclared assets from [countries with negotiations] will not in future come to Switzerland”.
Bankruptcy proceedings for key banks would limit pay, free trade agreements get priority
The cabinet will consult with interested parties on the details of how banks that are critical to the national financial system would be allowed to move into bankruptcy if they fail. A particular aspect of this is the decision by the government to limit payment to bankers for any financial institution that comes under the government’s care. Wide consultation on drafts for new laws with major impact is standard procedure in Switzerland and proposed legislation is then revised based on feedback before it goes to parliament.
Trade talks to be accelerated
SSR cost-cutting part of the deal
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Billag, the company that charges households a Swiss television and license fee which forms a key component in the budget of SSR, Swiss public broadcasting, will bill only once a year starting in 2011, the Swiss government has decided. The annual fee for private households is a little over CHF460.
Billag currently bills quarterly, sending 12 million bills annually for total annual fees of CHF1.4 billion. The shift will provide administrative cost savings of CHF9-10 million, mainly for printed paper, that can be passed on to SSR, says Bern.
SSR has lobbied heavily for higher license fees and greater freedom to advertise, in order to meet the growing cost of continuing to produce original material. The Federal Council in June 2010 approved a budget of CHF134.5 million, but it refused to accept SSR’s proposals for CHF14m to improve the state of the pension fund, CHF16m to increase its capital and CHF3.5m for various expenses. It called on SSR to economize in order to cover these and other costs, but it also relaxed some of the public media advertising restrictions slightly.
The June decision also emphasized a stronger role for French media programmes, insisting that some of the budget be deployed to create more original material in French.
One part of the budget cuts proposed by SSR has been to eliminate swissinfo, but a spokeswoman at the federal communications office confirmed to GenevaLunch that the move would require the approval of the federal government. World Radio Switzerland is also part of the SSR family, as are TSR television and RSR radio.
Moritz Leuenberger, Switzerland's Socialist minister for the environment, energy, transport, resigns
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Moritz Leuenberger, Socialist Party member who has been one of Switzerland’s seven federal councillors for the past 15 years, announced Friday morning that he will step down at the end of 2010. Leuenberger, 63, from Zurich, has headed one department, the Detec (environment, transport and energy) during his tenure and his left-leaning views have had a significant impact on the country’s approach to climate change.
He insisted in a press conference that journalists should not seek to find tactical reasons, that after 15 years as part of the government, he feels the time has come to leave. Leuenberger was scheduled to be the next president, taking up the post that rotates among the federal councillors in January 2011. Micheline Calmy-Rey, also a Socialist, from Geneva, will now become president in 2011, for the second time.
The United Nations offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka, were under siege from the local population Tuesday 6 July after Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, member of an ultranationalist party, led thousands of protesters there to argue that the UN has no business investigating possible human rights abuses by the government during the final days of the country’s long and bloody civil war. The protests have continued, with threats of hunger strikes, but UN personnel were able to leave the buildings by the end of Tuesday. The situation remains tense, with UN staff reportedly working from home Wednesday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in June set up an investigative panel charged with reviewing possible abuses.
Links to other sites: Associated Press, CNN
Bern, Switzerland / Lagos, Nigeria (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland insists that it does more than any other government to return funds stolen by dictators, and Nigeria is a case in point. But Nigerians are now worried about how to make sure the funds land in the right place in order to put back into the budget money taken out of government coffers illegally.
An editorial published 7 June in This Day/allAfrica notes that
According to a report from Global Financial Integrity, total illicit outflows from Africa between 1970 to 2008 may be as high as $1.8 trillion; Sub-Saharan African countries experienced the bulk of illicit financial outflows with the West and Central African region posting the largest outflow numbers. The top five countries with the highest outflow measured were: Nigeria ($89.5 billion) Egypt ($70.5 billion), Algeria ($25.7 billion), Morocco ($25 billion), and South Africa ($24.9 billion).
The editor says “It is, therefore, cheering to note that the Swiss government now wants to make it difficult for people who loot state treasuries to save looted funds in Swiss banks. We want to believe that that pledge by Switzerland’s Deputy State Secretary of the Swiss Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Pierre Helg, the other day in Abuja is sincere.”
The next step, he argues, is up to Nigeria. “there seems to be no transparency in the in the repatriation of looted funds. Nigerians deserve to know amounts repatriated as they happen and of what use the money is put. This lack of transparency has fuelled speculation that looted funds, if brought back, only meet re-looting.”
Global Forum in Paris this week in response to G-20 demand
Nigerian concern comes as Switzerland leads a two-day international conference in Paris, the Global Forum on the Recovery of Assets and Development, jointly organized by Switzerland, the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The forum is part of the lead-up to the G-20 summit in Toronto, Canada 26-27 June.
Eight dead, fourth journalist shot in two days and tourists under attack as crisis deepens
A gun battle is underway in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, several media are reporting late Sunday Swiss time.
The red-shirt protests also appear to have spread beyond Bangkok as the government backed down from its threat to call a curfew but declared a two-day holiday in the face of a deepening crisis, reports the Bangkok Post Sunday evening (Swiss time). Eight people are now known to be dead, and a fourth journalist was shot and wounded Saturday as the government attempts to seal off the protesters. The luxury Dusit Thani Hotel, where a number of foreigners including journalists are staying, came under attack with gunfire in the early hours of the morning, Bangkok Time.
Protest leaders have called for UN-moderated talks, which the government promptly rejected.
Links to other sites: AFP, Bangkok Post, CNN, Reuters
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The director of Switzerland’s Migration Office, Alard du Bois-Reymond, has told the
Conseil central islamique suisse (CCIS) that it will be excluded from discussions between the federal government and Muslim groups, designed to improve dialogue with the country’s Muslim population. “The participation of the CCIS in discussions with the Muslim population cannot be envisaged given the current situation”, du Bois-Reymond noted, referring to the group’s conservative stance.
Country not yet out of the woods from the crisis, Bern warns
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government Thursday published its financial report for 2009, showing a budget surplus of CHF2.7 billion, with the national debt reduced by CHF11b to CHF111. The figures were made known in February, but Bern has taken advantage of a change in the way it reports government revenues and spending to point out that the situation in 2009 was worse than in 2008, but that Switzerland weathered the economic crisis relatively well.
It warns that the full impact of the crisis will be felt only in 2011, with government revenues having a two-year lag because of the tax collection system. The report comes as several other European countries grapple with severe economic problems provoked or aggravated by the global economic situation in 2008-2009.
The good news is that the national debt is now CHF20b lower than in 2005, the year when Switzerland put into effect a spending brakes system. The impact of this will be felt next year, when spending will most likely not be increased because of lower revenues, with Bern budgeting a CHF2b deficit.
[Reuters video] Bangkok’s elevated train system was briefly brought to a halt by red-shirt protestors, and the government has vowed to step up measures to fight the seven-week old crisis that has killed 26 people and led to serious disruptions, including hitting the country’s vital tourism industry hard. The protestors are now starting to wear shirts of other colours to better blend into crowds to avoid arrest.
Protestors tell Reuters they are changing tactics
