Sunday, September 01, 2024
Published: Sunday, Sep 1st 2024, 05:20
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Secret meetings before the CS collapse, an austerity plan for the army and possible locations for new nuclear power plants in Switzerland: this and more can be found in the Sunday newspapers. The headlines in unverified reports:
"SonntagsZeitung":
Before the collapse of Credit Suisse (CS), former Finance Minister Ueli Maurer met regularly and secretly with the head of the Swiss National Bank, Thomas Jordan, and CS Chairman Axel Lehmann. This emerges from a report by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, which is available as a draft to all parties involved, as the SonntagsZeitung wrote. According to the report, the meetings took place at weekends between October 2022 and Maurer's resignation at the end of 2022. They were not recorded. Their contents were also not forwarded to the Federal Council or the relevant authorities. Maurer had concealed from the Federal Council that CS was already experiencing serious problems in spring 2022. The report is due to be published in November. According to the newspaper, the Department of Finance and the Swiss National Bank declined to comment.
"NZZ am Sonntag":
A group of experts appointed by Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter is proposing a savings plan worth billions for the army. The financial experts led by the former Director of the Federal Finance Administration, Serge Gaillard, are expected to present their proposal to the government on Wednesday, as the "NZZ am Sonntag" wrote. Parliament is to be informed at the beginning of the fall session. The expert commission proposes a 4.25 percent growth in the army by 2035 - instead of the 6.14 percent targeted by the Federal Council and Parliament. This would save the Confederation several hundred million francs a year, the newspaper wrote. The experts justify the savings plan by stating that there is no threat of an attack on Swiss soil in the foreseeable future.
"SonntagsBlick":
According to Energy Minister Albert Rösti, existing nuclear power plant sites in Switzerland are suitable for the construction of new power plants. "I could imagine us building another one in Mühleberg, for example," said Rösti in an interview with SonntagsBlick. He believes it would be difficult to build a nuclear power plant at a new location. Possible costs should only be discussed if a company actually wants to build a power plant. "That will never be the federal government," said the head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. The Austrian Energy Minister criticized the Federal Council's plans for nuclear power plants. "Nuclear power has no future", Leonore Gewessler told the newspaper. The Federal Council's policy is also of European interest, said Rösti. Germany had been dependent on electricity imports from Switzerland three times the winter before last.
"NZZ am Sonntag":
The Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) employed an external consultant for seven years despite a lack of performance. The private spy provided "no comprehensible meaningful services" for a total of CHF 280,000, wrote the Deputy Director of the FIS, Jürg Bühler, in a letter to the financial auditors, which was made available to the "NZZ am Sonntag". According to the letter, the contract and the payments were "structured contrary to internal FIS rules and in circumvention of existing reporting obligations". The man is said to have regularly attended meetings with federal and cantonal representatives. His activities were partly designed to exert political influence. Two years ago, a similar case came to light at the FIS, the newspaper wrote. According to the FIS, this is to remain the case.
"SonntagsBlick":
Andrea Arcidiacono from Ticino is to become the new Federal Council spokesperson. The other candidates are out of the running, as "SonntagsBlick" wrote. Arcidiacono confirmed that he is still in the application process. He previously worked for Federal Councillors Ruth Dreifuss and Pascal Couchepin. In addition to him, the names of Pierre Gobet, spokesman for the Swiss UN representation in New York, and Urs Wiedmer, head of communications for Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, were also mentioned. Wiedmer is said not to have been invited to an interview, as reported by the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung". The Federal Council announced that it would quickly find a successor to Vice-Chancellor and Federal Council spokesperson André Simonazzi, who died unexpectedly.
"Le Matin Dimanche" / "SonntagsZeitung":
The former president and former interior minister of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammatei and Carlos Vielmann, have filed a criminal complaint against a Geneva public prosecutor. They accuse Yves Bertossa of slander and defamation, as reported by the "SonntagsZeitung" and "Le Matin Dimanche". Bertossa had falsely accused the two politicians of being partly responsible for the execution of seven men during a prison riot in Guatemala in 2006. According to the newspapers, the charges emerged in connection with the trial against the former police chief of Guatemala, Erwin Sperisen. The trial of the Swiss-Guatemalan dual citizen begins on Monday in Geneva.
"SonntagsZeitung" / "NZZ am Sonntag":
More than half of the asylum seekers obliged to leave Switzerland are unable to do so because they do not have a passport. According to figures from the State Secretariat for Migration, 4500 asylum seekers currently have to leave the country, according to the SonntagsZeitung. Around 2500 people do not have a passport. Their identity is being checked by the authorities. Another reason why asylum seekers remain in Switzerland was highlighted by the "NZZ am Sonntag" newspaper: the number of people who remain in Switzerland this year alone has doubled as a result of Italy's halt to resettlement. The transfer deadline for 906 asylum seekers has expired since the Italian government stopped taking back Dublin cases from Switzerland. Switzerland must take over the asylum procedures.
"SonntagsBlick":
According to a survey, the Swiss population's interest in buying an electric car has declined. 23 percent of respondents want to buy an electric car in the next two years, as SonntagsBlick wrote based on a representative survey conducted by the Sotomo research institute. The "Mobility Speedometer 2024" was commissioned by insurer Axa. Last year, the willingness rate was still 34 percent. Instead, more than half of those surveyed wanted to buy a combustion engine again. However, the basic willingness to buy an electric car remained stable at 60 percent. However, the everyday hurdles - such as a lack of charging options - are too high.
"NZZ am Sonntag" / "SonntagsZeitung":
The US mountain sports company Alterra has been exploring the Swiss market. The company is looking for mountain railroads and hotel projects in which it could invest, as the "NZZ am Sonntag" wrote. "We know that Alterra has a large amount of money available to buy ski resorts in Europe," Pierre Besson, President of the Magic Pass association, told the newspaper. Magic Pass comprises over 80 medium-sized and smaller resorts in Switzerland and France. Besson is not aware of any resorts that have been approached by Alterra. The Alterra Mountain Company competes with the US company Vail Resorts. After Andermatt UR and Crans-Montana VS, Vail is also said to be looking for new investment opportunities in Switzerland. With a third local ski resort, Vail's Epic Pass could also become interesting for Swiss winter sports enthusiasts, wrote the SonntagsZeitung.
"NZZ am Sonntag":
Swiss pediatricians will have a national growth and weight curve for the first time in 2025. This will replace the international and outdated standard values that have been in place since 2011, as the NZZ am Sonntag wrote. Growth curves are important tools for assessing the development and health of children. "If a doctor uses the international curves, he reacts with a delay of two or three years," pediatrician Urs Eiholzer told the newspaper. He is head of the Pediatric Endoctrinology Center Zurich (PEZ). By 2025, the data collected by the PEZ in 2019 should be supplemented with data from French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.
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