View Larger Map
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – One of Switzerland’s worst spots for traffic jams will get some breathing space, with the Federal Highway Office approving a plan to widen the road from four to six lanes over 12 kilometres of the A1. A 3,300 metre-long additional tube will be added to the Gubrist tunnel.
The project, at a cost of CHF940 million, covers several works: the Weiningen and Affoltern intersections will be redone, a 750 metre viaduc will be built at Katzensee, anti-noise devices are being installed and a new drainage system will be built.
The project has been contentious, particularly over covering the west end of the Gubrist tunnel entrance, which the highway department rejected but which the commune of Weiningen has demanded. Federal, city and village authorities are now involved in talks to find a solution without delaying start of the construction project.
In addition, 113 property owners objected to the price they were offered for the land they are obliged to cede for the project, but their objections were overruled.
Girls have made it onto Swiss kids' football teams, but that doesn't guarantee equal pay
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland is stuck at number 10 in the world’s gender gap rankings, published 10 October by the World Economic Forum in Geneva, with equal pay for men and women as one of the sticking points.
Friday 10 November the country will observe “Futur en tous genres” to encourage boys and girls to consider all kinds of training and professional work without linking certain kinds of jobs to one gender or the other.
The day replaces what used to be “girl’s day”, designed to help girls focus on broader career options.
The new focus is designed to ensure that boys also take time to reflect on gender and roles in the workplace, says Geneva’s associate director for equality in the canton’s Department of Public Instruction, Franceline Dupenloup, in an interview in Les Quotidiennes (Fr).
Down near the cellar for equal pay: Switzerland ranks number 80
Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office
Switzerland has made great strides in the WEF rankings ( WEF page on Switzerland, pdf) in recent years, moving from 40th place in 2007 to 14, then 13 and last year to 10.
And there it sits, for the WEF rankings are based on five sets of criteria: economic empowerment, education, marriage and childbearing, social institutions and political rights, childbearing ecosystem.
The WEF rankings show the US improving, France worsening and few changes in the top 10 compared to a year earlier. The Philippines stepped ahead of Lesotho, swapping slots 8 and 9, and Ireland stepped in front of New Zealand, swapping places 5 and 6.
The Swiss are number one for literacy and enrollment in tertiary education, but the country is down at number 80 for equal pay, which government statistics show to be about 20 percent lower for women, with little change in sight.
Women in ministerial positions: Switzerland ranks 7, and it is this category that boosted the country when two and then three women joined the cabinet of seven in the past four years. And since the WEF rankings are dollar-based and the franc is strong, Switzerland benefits for the category of estimated earned income (PPP US$), where it ranks fourth.
More women, 60.8%, are working and fewer men, 75.2%
Swiss statistics show women slowly but surely taking a larger role in the workplace and as their numbers grow, their influence on the earnings picture could carry weight, although there is no clear sign yet that this is starting to happen.
Federal statistics show that in 1991, the rate for women ages 15 and up who were working or unemployed was 56.8 percent. This has risen, mostly steadily, and by 2010 the figure was 60.8 percent. At the peak, in the 20-25 age group, 80.7 percent of all women are working. The figure for men 20-25 is 92.6%.
From ages 30 to 50 the rate for women remains virtually unchanged, hovering between 77 and 79 percent in 2000 and now between 81 and 86 percent, with the lowest level between ages 30 and 39. Women appear to be working longer before taking time off for young families, and going back to work sooner.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Three-quarters of the tatoos done in Switzerland are using colouring agents that have not been approved, according to the Swiss Cantonal Chemists Association. The situation has improved in the past year, with more publicity alerts customers and tatoo artists alike to the situation, says the group, which recently carried out safety checks in a number of businesses.
The federal health department does not carry out health inspections or regulate the trade, according to Le Nouvelliste in Valais, a fact of which most customers are reportedly unaware.
Noise reduction panels to the west of the Lausanne train station will have to wait
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Panels to reduce noise from trains on the east side of Lausanne, in the direction of canton Valais, were approved in June 2011 after a five-year review, but new panels to the west of the station will have to wait, the Federal Transport Office said Thursday 4 August.
The delay is due to the new Lausanne-Renens fourth rail line, approved in December 2010. Noise panels and noise reduction windows for the area should be reviewed as part of the larger fourth rail project, the Bern office says. A revised project will be presented to the public at the end of the summer.
Photo, Roadcross, foundation for road accident victims
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Drive 200kph on the autoroute or 100kph in town and you might find you’re facing some stiff penalties, if a new proposal to change the Swiss constitution passes. The initiative, “protection against super-speeders”, was handed to the Swiss federal chancellery Wednesday 15 June with more than 106,000 signatures, enough to put it to the vote
The popular initiative was started by Roadcross, a Swiss foundation for road victims. It argues that stricter measures are necessary to reduce deaths and injuries caused by drivers who willfully use roads at excessively high speeds. The group takes pains to point out that the measure does not concern the occasional speeder who is over the limit.
“Every week, an accident is caused by someone driving at excessive speeds. Several times a month, people are critically injured or killed by these speeders,” the group notes in a position paper. “Every year in Switzerland 1,109 persons are critically injured and 147 are killed in accidents evidently caused by excessively high speeds (2008 figures).”
Excessive speeds are not caused by a moment of inattention to the speed limit. The popular initiative lays it out clearly:
- going over the allowed limit by at least 40kph in areas where the limit is 30
- over the limit allowed by at least 50kph in towns
- over the limit by at least 60kph on highways outside towns
- at least 80kph over the limit on autoroutes.
The change to the law would require tougher penalties in the case of death or serious injuries caused by an accident due to high speeds. The super-speeder’s car would be confiscated and given to the state (proceeds to victims of road accidents) and the driver’s license would be taken away fro at least two years, for a first conviction and for life in a second conviction. In the case of doubt, a license would be lifted as a preventive measure until the courts decide if excessive speed was involved.
Pink picnics in Carouge were part of the strike for equal pay for women 14 June (photo: USS trade union)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – It was mostly work as usual for women in Switzerland 14 June, a day marked for a strike to protest the 20 percent less that women earn, across the board.
Small groups gathered in several places and some of them notably blew pink whistles at 14:06 to mark the 20th anniversary of the strike for equality for women. 20 Minutes reports a record crowd of 1,000 in Geneva, 500 at Place de la Riponne in Lausanne and far smaller numbers in German-speaking Switzerland.
USS, one of the country’s main trade unions, gave a figure of 100,000 who participated in the day’s events.
The reality of the difference in salaries is well documented, according to both the Swiss Statistical Office in Neuchatel and the Bern-based Federal Office for Gender Equality, the FOGE (2009 report).
In 2006, a year that served for several studies, women earned 24 percent less than men on average, for a salary difference of CHF1,747 a month. Some 60 percent of this could be explained, by differences in qualifications, for example, but 40 percent is considered discriminatory under Swiss law, leaving women earning CHF700 a month less, for the same work with the same qualifications, on average.
Married women who work earn 31 percent less, in part because more women are in part-time jobs, where the pay is often lower: 13 percent of men work part-time, but 57 percent of women work part-time.
Women in professional positions also earn 31 percent less, in part, according to government studies, because men tend to be paid higher bonuses and other add-ons to salaries.
The FOGE provides a self-test, online, to check salary discrimination, and offers suggestions for how to ensure you are paid correctly.
Net monthly salary by age and gender, 2009 (source: Swiss Statistical Office)
Top Sotheby's watch 15 May was a nearly 50-yer-old Patek Philippe
CHF1.15 million for the most expensive Rolex ever sold at auction, by Christies (source: Christies Ltd)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – This is a week where spending your spare millions will be very easy in Geneva, the week when auctions are offering rare watches, an extraordinary emerald tiara and a bottle of Château Lafite-Rothschild, vintage 1887, Pauillac, 1er cru classé that would make grandfather sit up in his grave and ask for a glass.
Christies and Sotheby’s are outdoing themselves during the usual mid-May Geneva sales week. Sotheby’s, not too long before the British royal wedding when minds were on crowns and other state jewels, sent around a photo of the rare tiara that will be offered for sale Tuesday evening 17 May.
Most expensive auction Rolex goes for CHF1.04 million
But the week of rarefied goods began with Sotheby’s and Christies’s Important Watches sales
When the gavel went down Sunday evening 15 May on the final item at Sotheby’s, the firm could claim CHF7.75 million in sales, with a Patek Philippe watch alone going for CHF722,500. The 1960 watch, sold in 1962, belonged to a “distinguished gentleman” and is described as: “an extremely rare 18K yellow gold perpetual calendar, chronograph wristwatch with registers moon-phases and tachometer scale.”
The second most costly watch was just over CHF300,000, a 2007 Greubel Forsay watch.
They were overshadowed by the sale nearby at the Christies auction of a Rolex watch that set a new world record price for any Rolex wristwatch ever sold at auction, a “legendary, ultra-rare, split-seconds chronograph reference 4113″, sold for CHF1.035 million ($1.16m).
Switzerland remains the world’s top bottle recycling nation
St Prex fetes 100 years of glass-making, music and beautiful lakeside floral displays
Saint Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More than one glass is being raised this weekend in Saint Prex, canton Vaud, as the village celebrates one hundred years of glass-making 14-15 May. The Vetropack Group’s “verrerie“, or glass-making factory, was set up in 1911 by Henri Cornaz to work with the local wine and beer industries. By 1959 the company had become Switzerland’s largest glass manufacturer, with Swiss glass factories replacing imports from Communist bloc countries. In 1986 Vetropak, the group created 20 years earlier, began to expand into Austria and, over the next 15 years, further east.
Today the St Prex factory’s main business is wine bottles, made from recycled glass.
42.6kg per person recycled every year
The Swiss are world leaders in glass recycling, with nearly 95 percent of all glass containers, 42.6kg per person, collected, melted down and turned into new glass. Swiss residents annually use about 120 glass containers each.
Saint Prex’s factory reflects the development of 20th century corporate Switzerland and the impact Swiss firms have had on the towns around them. The group had a 2009 turnover of CHF104 million and it recycles about one-third of the country’s glass. It operates in three locations in Switzerland, as well as in Austria, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.
Photo: Verrerie brass band in 1911 (Photo: Vetrobrass)
Sandy soil was perfect for glass
The bucolic lakeside village had been, for two centuries, a summer resort for wealthy people from Morges, 6km away, at the start of the 20th century. It was built near sandy soil that Cornaz saw as the perfect raw material for his glass business, which grew rapidly as the summer home role of Saint Prex faded away.
St Prex's history chart, part of the village's marked walks
Cornaz built a factory, and, typical for the time, he also built a small new town for his workers on the north side of the railroad tracks.
Local clubs created for immigrants
He provided several local clubs for the “immigrants”, who at the time came mainly from canton Fribourg. Later waves of immigrants came from Italy, then Spain and Portugal, and their descendents continue to make up a significant part of St Prex’s population of 5,000. The Fanfare de la Verrerie 14-15 May is also celebrating its centennial as the brass band set up for workers shortly after the factory opened (videos, St Prex Fanfare).
A football field was built and the local football club created in 1912, and in 1913 a local gymanstics society was set up.
Swiss sports, for children and adults, today retain this tradition of local commune clubs rather than schools as the centres for learning and practicing many sports. Scores of local clubs, often set up under the patronage of local companies, continue to play an important role in the lives of Swiss towns.
Dionys line of traditional canton Vaud wine bottles (source: Vetropak)
Local events were in the early days held in the factory’s hall, which today houses a small but rich local glass history museum.
Group works closely with Swiss winemakers
The St Prex verrerie works closely with wine and other beverage producers to create packaging that includes specialty bottles. It unveiled a new line of traditional Vaud bottles, called Dionys, that are 5 percent lighter, reducing shipping and delivery costs for winemakers’s standard lines.
The Clos Domaine & Chateaux group of 12 top wineries in canton Vaud in April unveiled an elegant, heavier new 75cl bottle that its members will be able to use for their haute gamme products, designed with Vetropak.
Related links: St Prex tourism, Ellen Wallace’s flickr collection of St Prex images
Foreigners remain most affected, but trend parallels the overall drop
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss jobless rate continues to drop, after its five-year high of 3.9 percent in 2010, to 3.6 percent in February.
January unemployment was 3.8 percent.
The February unemployment figures released Tuesday 8 March show that foreigners continue to have an unemployment rate that is well over twice that of Swiss workers: 7.3 percent for the non-Swiss, compared to 2.6 percent.
The largest group of unemployed foreigners remains those from the western Balkans, as has been the case for the past five years, with 7.9 percent, followed by Portuguese, with 7.3 percent unemployment and the French, 5.8 percent.
Line closest to the station in Geneva, right, is reserved for Geneva-Coppet traffic, where the CFF wants to have 4, not just 2 trains an hour each way
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Mies and Chambésy could soon be home to two new crossing points for CFF regional trains, residents learned Wednesday evening.
The Tribune de Geneve reports that the Swiss rail company met with residents to explain about the works that need to be undertaken in the area to handle the rapidly growing traffic on the Geneva-Coppet rail line.
Trains currently run every 30 minutes but traffic has become so dense, particularly at each end of the work day, that trains are needed every 15 minutes.
The two trains currently meet at Creux-de-Genthod but an additional line and two extra crossing points are needed to increase the frequency.
The new line, lake side of the tracks, would later become part of the RER regional system, Suva, and the trains will continue on to Annemasse.
According to the Tribune, the CFF would like to see the works, which will take 2.5 years, completed by 2015, but negotiations that began with landowners in 2010 are not yet completed.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Rail traffic on the main Geneva-Lausanne line and up to Biel-Bienne has been disrupted Friday morning 17 December by a “person accident” in Renens around 09:00. The term is used to refer to an accident involving a person on the rails, either accident or suicide.
The CFF warns travellers to expect delays, but trains should be running on a full schedule again by shortly after noon.
Few ventured out early Wednesday morning (Saint Prex, canton Vaud)
An aptly named street Wednesday morning
Update 09:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The overnight snowfall throughout the Lake Geneva region is causing major traffic disruptions Wednesday 1 December. Cointrin Airport in Geneva is closed until at least 14:00 and travellers are being advised to check with their airlines.
The TPG in Geneva decided early in the morning not to run any of its buses and trams until further notice. The Tribune de Geneve is providing regular updates on the city’s public transport situation, as is RSR, which says some trams are running in the city, at 08:00.
Geneva, with 20 cm of fresh snow overnight, and more falling, has been the hardest hit area, according to MeteoSwiss reports.
Roads are considered moderately dangerous, with icy conditions, from Geneva to Lausanne and up the hillsides to the Jura. Road conditions in Valais are good, with less fresh snow than around the lake.
Everyone's new best friend, on a topsy-turvy snowy morning (Saint Prex, canton Vaud)
Lausanne’s public transport is running, with relatively minor delays, after 10 cm of snow fell overnight.
The CFF Swiss train system is operating, but with some delays: details for delayed trains and a map are updated frequently. Passengers were stranded Tuesday evening along the Lausanne-Geneva line when the Intercity train had a technical problem from about 18:00-20:00, but the problem was not weather-related.
The Swiss highway department’s truck info road updates and TCS (Touring Club Suisse) provide details of congestion and closed roads, with traffic in the Lausanne-Geneva area slow Wednesday morning, but with fewer people than usual on the road before 08:00, reports one commuter.
Schools are open in Geneva and neighbouring France, but with limited public transport, some children will not be making it to school.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva-Servette Hockey Club (GSHC) was given a Halloween bruising 31 October in its home rink, Les Vernets, losing to HC Fribourg-Gottéron 0-2 (0-0, 0-1 0-1). A packed house of more than 7,000 fans watched the match. GSHC’s record for the season is now 6 wins, 10 losses and the team has slipped to seventh place in the rankings.
In other hockey-related news, La Liberté in Fribourg carries a front-page story about zero tolerance at the ice rinks in Switzerland: an off-duty police officer has been sanctioned for spitting on GSHC players and team officials last March when Fribourg and GSHC played a match at the St Leonard arena. He’s now on the “Hoogan” list of hooligans, and he’s been banned from ice hockey matches for a year. His employer, the Fribourg Cantonal Police, has sanctioned him.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – They don’t make autoroutes like they used to, and for sustainability fans, this is a good thing. The new 11 km stretch of four-lane divided highway in Weinland, the A4, was opened at noon Friday 22 October between Schaffhausen and Winterthur, near Zurich. It has two underpasses and an overpass for local fauna to get them safely across the road.
The most startling difference for drivers is that the road is 8 metres narrower than older, more familiar autoroutes. There are no emergency lanes, but pullover emergency stopping places have been created. Plants have been carefully selected and trees planted with a view to encouraging wildlife to stay in the area. And rainwater from the road will be collected by eight special installations that will treat them and return the water to nearby streams that have been left in their wild state.
There was no cocaine in this import
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -Magnetic Resonance Symmetry (MRS), the technique behind MRI scans done in hospitals could well be adopted by customs officials, if Swiss researchers in Lausanne and Geneva have their way. MRS has been shown by the group to be useful for scanning large cargoes and spotting cocaine that is being smuggled in wine bottles without having to open or disturb the cargo container.
A man in the UK reportedly died in 2009 as a result of unwittingly consuming cocaine-laced wine, but customs officials have a tough job spotting such bottles, or have had until now. They must carry out drug-panel tests on open bottles, but “first, contaminated cargo can be overlooked, since it is not possible to check a large number of samples,” writes Giulio Gambarota of EPFL in the Wiley Online Library.
“Second, cargo with expensive wine cannot be systematically sampled at a reasonable cost. Thus, a ‘non-invasive’ approach is of interest, as it would allow for an increase in sampling rate, without alterations to the cargo itself.”
The research work showed that “dissolved cocaine can be detected in intact wine bottles, on a standard clinical MR scanner” in about a minute, making it the option of choice, writes the lead author.
Lausanne to host fireworks on 9 October
Fireworks planned in Lausanne on 9 October
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Saturday 9 October promises to be a busy day for the two largest cities in the French-speaking region of Switzerland: Geneva and Lausanne.
Geneva holds its annual “Welcome Celebration” which it extends to all new residents in the Canton. Among those receiving invitations to attend are Swiss citizens and permanent residents moving to Geneva from other cantons, temporary international workers and newly arrived immigrants.
In 2009, over 20,000 people attended the orientation session which includes information on education, health services, transportation and culture.
The meeting will take place at the Salle communale de Plainpalais from 16:00 to 18:00.
Lausanne in fetes
Meanwhile Lausanne will be celebrating being named host of the world’s biggest gymnastic festival by throwing a massive kick-off party. Lausanne is to host the 2011 World Gymnaestrada, a gymnastics event with over 23,000 participants from all over the world.
At 15:30 there will be a series of parades originating from the city’s northern, southern, eastern and western outskirts. Participants will meet at Place de la Riponne where sports and city officials will unveil the Gymnaestrada’s program.
Festivities will then continue at the Flon district with a gymnastics show, music, activities and entertainment.
The evening will conclude with a fireworks show over Lake Geneva at 21:45.
Lausanne becomes the third city to host the Gymnaestrada, Basel and Zurich hosted the games in 1969 and 1982 respectively.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva will add 327 new pre-school places to the existing 3,300, by 2014, the Tribune de Geneve reports 24 September. Another 20 projects are under study, with a goal of covering the canton’s daycare needs by 2016.
Related editorial, GenevaLunch 23 September
Swiss Gruyere, aging for six months in a mountain cheese cellar
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – A Gruyère is a Gruyère, but not exactly: Swiss authorities said 14 August that France has abandoned its three-year-old fight to get AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) status for its holey version of the famous but smooth Swiss cheese, named after the village it calls home.
The French version of the cheese has a distinctly different taste.
The Swiss cheese was given AOC status in 2007 and the French version in 2007, when France decided to seek AOP recognition, essentially the same but at a European level.
Instead, following recommendations from Brussels, the French have agreed to IGP (indication géographique protégée) status, less prestigious, but it allows them to continue using the name.
Swiss cow in the Alps: high pasture grazing gives Gruyere a special flavour
Facts about the Swiss cheese: it takes 400 litres of milk to make one round of the cheese, which generally weighs 35 kg. It is made according to recipes dating back to 1115.
The cows are fed on grass during the summer, hay in winter, and no additives are allowed to the diet or cheese.
Link to: Gruyere AOC official site
Zug, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Transocean, the Zug-based company that owned the rig operated by BP that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, is under fire again, following comments from one of the workers who escaped the fiery rig.
Tyrone Benton told the BBC that he and others had found a leak weeks before the explosion in a blowout preventer, a safety device designed to prevent explosions such as the one that occurred. The device was shut down and a second one use, Benton told the British public television station.
Transocean has said that the device was tested before the accident. It remains unclear if the first device was repaired.
Links to other sites: BBC, Deepwater Horizon Unified Command centre, New York Times, Transocean
Video, US Coast Guard releasing into the wild “rehabilitated” brown pelicans affected by the oil spill
Ed. note: The IP Watch story was run Friday 4 June just as Australian police announced they are opening an investigation into Google’s Street View mapping methods there. The company called a halt to its vehicles in Australia in May.
By William New
IP Watch, republished with permission
Geneva, Switzerland – Legally speaking, there is “little doubt” that Google’s collection of WiFi data by its roving StreetView vehicles does not comply with the Swiss Data Protection Act, and the company is likely to come under new scrutiny in Switzerland possibly even resulting in “severe financial consequences,” a respected Swiss law firm has said. In a brief circulated yesterday, available here [1], the technology, media and telecoms practice of Geneva- and Lausanne-based BCCC law firm predicted that Google is likely to fall under new
scrutiny by the Swiss Data Protection Authority after a US federal court order barred the internet company from destroying data and ordering it to turn over two copies of the hard drive with the data.
Google also called attention to itself when, in response to an order from German officials to turn over data it had collected from WiFi networks within a certain deadline, it did not comply and instead sought more time to determine whether such a handover could violate communication regulations, the firm said. Google had first insisted the data were not as extensive as it later had to admit they are.
The company is likely to face continuing legal, oversight, and public trust problems in Europe and the United States for its involvement in, and handling of concern about, its collection of data, BCCC said.
Google’s data collection likely does not comply with requirements under Article 4 of the Swiss Data Protection Act, BCCC said, citing the principles of: legality – prohibiting deceitful data collection; good faith – requiring people to be fully informed; proportionality – only data that is necessary; finality – only used in the manner disclosed.
Google was not reached for this story.
The situation presents a difficult legal question for any high-tech company, [BCCC] said, as it must ensure its IT infrastructure and software not expose it to liability. “In a time when privacy is highly valued by citizens and customers, one should not be surprised to have a court consider a lack of due diligence or implementation of robust procedures to ensure users’ privacy and legal compliance as a fault, no matter how costly such as an audit is,” they concluded, “with potentially severe financial consequences not to mention the damage reputation suffered which might be hard to recover.”
Update 13:15 Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A fire in the centre of Nyon, at Rue de la Gare number 24, has put two people in hospital, destroyed their studio apartment and caused extensive damage to neighbouring apartments, say Vaud police. The fire that began early in the morning was brought under control by 07:00 but a large emergency was brought in to deal with the blaze and possible injuries. Thirteen residents from numbers 22, 24 and 26 on the Rue de la Gare were evacuated. Firefighters used two long ladders to reach the occupents of the studio on at the top, after a neighbour phoned in the alarm at 03:00 Friday 21 May.
The mainly pedestrian street runs perpendicular to the Nyon train station.
Forty-three firefighters, 13 fire engines, four ambulances, six regular and traffic police patrols were called in, in addition to Nyon police on duty at the time of the blaze.
Open days at wineries give consumers a chance to discover some of Switzerland's unusual wines, such as this rare Roussanne, a cousin of the Marsanne grape made famous by France's Hermitage wines (Christian Crittin, La Pleine Lune, St-Pierre-de-Clages, Valais)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s new wines season kicked off seriously last weekend with the fourth annual Valais wine Open Days 12-15 May, which pulled in 22,000 people to 179 cellars, say the organizers, Vins du Valais.
The crowds came despite cold, wet weather that put a damper on villages’ plans for outdoor entertainment and wines served under sunny skies.
This weekend it is the turn of canton Vaud, which has more than 300 wineries participating in its Open Days 21-22 May.
Maps of the region with details and lists of cellars are a good starting point for anyone planning to visit. Vaud’s cellars, more spread out than those in Geneva, have offered limited transport options in the past, but several groups of wine villages are organizing shuttle buses (check out regional sub-menus on the “transport” tab) this year.
Swiss Germans are expected en masse, since the bulk of wines from Vaud end up in German-speaking areas. Geneva, the third largest wine producing canton, holds its Open Days the following Saturday 29 May.
Panning for gold in the Rhone, upper Valais, 16 May 2010 (click on image to view larger)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss pension plans are looking healthier than they were during the global economic crisis, with 80 percent of them back to a coverage rate of at least 100 percent, according to the 2010 Swisscanto report.
The institute, jointly owned by Switzerland’s cantonal banks, offers advisory services on pension funds and produces an annual study of the Swiss pension market.
The latest report, available only in German, shows that coverage has gone up nearly 6 percent on average in the past 12 months, although it remains below the 110 percent level seen in 2005..
Public pension funds continue to have inadequate reserves, the report notes, and lawmakers will be forced to deal with how to refinance them in coming months.
The group interviewed 278 pension funds with a value of CHF369 billion, about 60 percent of all pension funds in Switzerland.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss consumers are feeling far more optimistic about the economy than they were in January, the latest quarterly consumer confidence survey shows. The surveys are done every three months by the federal finance department. The April survey shows a 14 point increase in confidence, compared to a 7 point drop in January. Consumers expect to see “a much lower increase in unemployment as well as a stronger positive development of the economy,” the results, published Tuesday 11 May, show.
The search for work continues - Photo Photopress/Martin Ruetschi
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Unemployment in Switzerland has dropped to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in February 2010. Although the jobless rate has improved since the start of 2010 it is considerably higher than it was a year ago.
The figures were released 8 April by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco).
The current number of persons registered at local unemployment offices across the country totals 166,032: almost 7,000 people less than in February but 31,000 more than during the same period in 2009.
Producing Swiss Emmental cheese (image, Swiss Cheese Marketing)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss are the world leaders in eating cheese and for 2009 the country set a new record for per person consumption, 21.4 kg. New 2009 figures from the Swissmilk show that in economically tight times the Swiss ate more, not less cheese, with consumption rising by 240g per person. The preference is for fresh, medium-hard cheeses.
Swiss cheese consumption 2009 (table, Swissmilk - click on image to view larger)
Those numbers are not as reassuring as the Swissmilk, the national milk farmers’ federation would like because foreign cheeses accounted for the increase, with Switzerland consuming 310g more of imported cheese, per person, and 70g less of Swiss cheese.
Appenzeller was the big loser, with consumption falling 10.5 percent, and Emmental was the big winner, up 7.5 percent. Switzerland Cheese Marketing will lead a country-wide publicity campaign to push the quality of Swiss cheese to consumers, starting in May 2010.
US President Barack Obama at his inauguration
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US Democrats Abroad are launching a Get Out the Vote campaign worldwide to encourage Americans to register to vote early enough to participate in the November 2010 congressional elections. The group manages a web site, www.votefromabroad.org, where voters can order absentee ballots, and which offers them voter information.
Democrats Abroad is the official overseas branch of the US Democratic Party and has members in more than 160 countries. It is keen to get Americans abroad voting in the hope of holding onto a strong Democratic majority. There are 435 House elections and 36 Senate elections in November.
“Just over a year ago, we saw history being made before our eyes,” says Christine Schon Marques, the Geneva-based president of Democrats Abroad.
Wine and beer now allowed on radio, TV
More ads, different spots - and a drop of wine on Swiss TV, radio
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ofcom, the Swiss federal communications supervisor, will issue directives during the summer of 2010 for more advertising space and time on radio and television. The new regulations will bring Switzerland into line with European neighbours, who have more advertising time, in order not to create a disadvantage, in particular for Swiss public TV and radio.
Hydroelectric station, canton Valais, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Electricity price increases announced in 2009 by several suppliers were provisionally rejected in July 2009 by Bern as unnecessarily high, and Monday 8 March the federal electricity commission confirmed this. The commission’s report says that the increases were based on costs that were over-estimated in some cases and unacceptable inefficiency in other cases. The energy companies have the right to appeal, but if they do not the rate hikes will have to be abandoned.
The companies concerned are: Alpiq, BKW, Axpo (Axpo AG, CKW, EGL), EWZ and Rätia Energie, along with a number of smaller firms.
Wind turbine, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Canton Vaud will have 10 additional wind turbines on a third site, by 2014, Romande Energie announced Friday 5 March. The communes of Longirod and Marchissy, at the foot of the Jura, have agreed to their construction, as have the landowners. The wind energy produced by the mills will supply electricity to some 10,000 households. The cost to build them: CHF60 million.
Romande Energie has set a target to have 10 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources by 2020-2025, the company notes.
Links to other sites: Longirod, Romande Energy, Swiss federal department of energy on wind energy
