Surprise at Italy's actions
Lugano, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Italian tax authorities raided 76 branches of Swiss banks in 22 cities around Italy, 27 October, ostensibly checking to see whether the institutions were in compliance with reporting requirements on bank operations. Federal Counsellor Pascal Couchepin said on national radio that they “were desperate measures” and suggested that the social contract between the Italian government and its citizens was in “bad shape”.
Italians who travel to Switzerland overland have been subjected to unprecedented border checks, with closed circuit cameras and police dogs at the border. The Italian finance and economy minister, Giulio Tremonti, has said that he wants to “dry up” the banks in Ticino, where it is estimated that most Italians have deposited their money.
Didier Burkhalter, Neuchatel, new Swiss cabinet member
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Didier Burkhalter, 49, a Radical party (centre-right) politician from Neuchatel, was elected by the Swiss parliament to the country’s seven-member Federal Council (cabinet) with 129 votes against 106 for the other candidate, Urs Schwaller, PDC (also centre), on the fourth round of voting. He succeeds Pascal Couchepin, from canton Valais, who is retiring 1 November. Burkhalter’s election means his party will retain its seat on the council and the balance remains unchanged in the power-sharing Swiss government. The language balance remains intact as well, with one French-speaking canton representative replaced by another.
Details: Swissinfo and on radio, WRS. Swiss French media: Le Temps, Tribune de Geneve/24 Heures, TSR
Background story, GenevaLunch
Swiss Federal Council 2009
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The two houses of the Swiss parliament, together referred to as the United Federal Assembly, is voting today, 16 September, on a new councilor for the ruling seven-member Federal Council, Switzerland’s cabinet. Councilor Pascal Couchpin, who served as president of the country in 2008, is resigning at the end of October 2009 and the vote is for his replacement. Members of the council are elected for four-year terms and the post of president, for one year, rotates among them, with parliamentary approval. Today’s new councilor will have a chance at the presidential position, but not every councilor becomes president, depending mainly on the length of their time in office.
Swiss media have speculated heavily in recent days about who will win the slot, with a large number of potential candidates putting their names forward and no clear front runner. At issue is the balance of power in the cabinet, which since 1959 has shared power among the political parties according to their share of the vote – although this “magic formula” was strained after the 2003 election, when the far right won a significant new percentage.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Dalai Lama will be in Lausanne 4-5 August, part of a European tour organized by the Tibetan community, but the Swiss Federal Council (cabinet) will not be sending a delegation to greet him. The highest-ranking Swiss official outside the Cabinet, the head of the lower house of Parliament, Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi, will instead travel to Lausanne to welcome him as head of a spiritual community. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to hold a public conference Wednesday 5 August on “World peace through inner peace” and this event, plus the other talks at the conference at the Malley sports centre, are sold out.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Pascal Couchepin, one of the seven members of the ruling Federal Government (cabinet) in Switzerland, resigned early Friday morning. The resignation of the 67-year-old councilor who has been in the government for 11 years, has been expected for some weeks and comes at the end of a parliamentary session. Couchepin is giving a conference Friday morning; the initial announcements did not provide details or an explanation for the resignation, which takes effect 31 October 2009.
