Dom, Ene 21st 2024
The FDFA ignores criticism, cantons erect unauthorized hunting lodges and children’s health costs rise: this and more can be found in the Sunday newspapers.
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has ignored warnings about the UN resolution on the Gaza war. The diplomatic department of the Swiss army warned against the resolution as it had a “clear anti-Israeli slant.”
The resolution does not condemn Hamas or the terrorist attack of October 7 by name. The embassy in Tel Aviv criticized that the text contradicted Switzerland’s position. Other departments agreed with the resolution, including the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Directorate of International Law, and the representation from Ramallah in the West Bank.
The Department of Foreign Affairs still stands behind the adopted position “after reaching a consensus among the interested services,” as it announced.
The wolf hunt in Valais is using unauthorized means. Gamekeepers and hunters lay in wait in mobile hunting huts on behalf of the canton, as the “SonntagsZeitung” wrote. Portable huts are banned from regular hunting.
Several huts had been set up for wolf hunting, criticized the Wolf Switzerland group. The newspaper confirmed one location: a hut is located above Hérémence. It is located a few meters from a popular hiking trail and on the edge of a wildlife rest area.
The wolf hunt is not advertised on-site. The canton had informed the municipality about the hut. According to the mayor, professional gamekeepers only use it at night.
The healthcare costs of young people have risen more sharply than those of the older generation in recent years. With a cost increase of 74 percent since 2011, the rise was highest for six to ten-year-old children.
The data is the conclusion of an analysis by the think tank Avenir Suisse. According to the newspaper, one possible reason is the increased uncertainty regarding the state of health. In the same period, healthcare costs rose by only 10 percent for retirees.
The proportion of expenses caused by people over 65 has also remained the same since 2011 – despite the increase in the baby boomer generation by around a quarter.
According to the health insurance association Santésuisse, around 800,000 policyholders have switched health insurers for the new year. This corresponds to about 8.8 percent of insured persons.
Forecasts had assumed that every third insured person would change health insurer. According to the newspaper, there was already a gap between the estimates and actual changes in the previous year. The chief economist of Santésuisse said that on closer examination, insured persons would probably realize that they were satisfied with their provider.
The comparison service Comparis assumed a switching rate of around 15 percent this year. It will refrain from conducting surveys in the future.
Swiss political parties have received 7.5 million in public funding each year. The federal government pays the amount to the secretariat of the party parliamentary groups, as “Le Matin Dimanche” wrote. Each parliamentary group receives a basic allowance of CHF 144,500.
In addition, there would be a lump sum of CHF 26,800 per member. It needs to be made clear how much of this money is spent on campaigns. What the contributions are used for is confidential, according to the newspaper. Discussions with various parties have shown that there needs to be more clarity about how the money is used.
The Audit Office of the Canton of Bern warned the government back in 2019 about its unclear expense rules and reputational risk. The demand for stricter rules had yet to be implemented, the head of the audit office, Thomas Remund, told SonntagsBlick.
The audit office had suggested introducing a cost framework for individual expense claims. At the newspaper’s request, the government does not wish to publish the audit report and the response to it. It pointed out that the Expenses Ordinance has been amended since 2021.
Opponents of the runway expansion at Zurich Airport have requested that the referendum documents be withdrawn. The referendum committee submitted a request to this effect to the Zurich cantonal government, as SonntagsBlick reported.
At the end of December, the committee submitted a voting rights complaint against the vote on March 3. The government council still needs to deal with the matter, the newspaper wrote. The government council still needed to say why the complaint had yet to be dealt with. According to “SonntagsBlick,” the disputed voting documents have now arrived at the municipalities.
According to Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of a possible global debt crisis too late. The FDP Federal Councillor said in an interview with the NZZ am Sonntag that geopolitical differences were making the work of debt reduction more difficult.
“Geopolitics must not be allowed to paralyze this committee,” she said. The world must rally behind the goals of financial stability. She is also concerned that the consequences of possible global debt are not sufficiently present. Keller-Sutter said a loss of prosperity would also be accompanied by political instability and social unrest.
The Russian ambassador in Bern, Sergei Garmonin, has rejected Switzerland’s role as a peace mediator. Switzerland has “completely lost its role as an impartial international mediator,” Garmonin told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
The Swiss initiative for a peace conference was doomed to failure. Russian ultimatums should also be considered instead of just the ten points of Ukraine’s peace plan. Given the current situation, Garmonin sees no possibility that Russia will participate in a conference in Switzerland.
One year after his resignation, former SVP Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer has described himself as an opponent of vaccination. “We pretended that we had beneficial vaccines,” said Maurer in an interview with the internet channel Hoch2.tv. Instead, the vaccines were more hot air than substance, Maurer continued. He also accused the pharmaceutical industry of stoking fears to achieve higher profits. “Direct attacks of this severity are not the norm for former Federal Councillors,
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