Switzerland faces pressure from France to contribute to the costs of new nuclear power plants, amidst other domestic challenges.
Keystone/CHRISTIAN BEUTLER
Switzerland is to pay for French nuclear power plants, old people’s homes are administering a lot of medication and the authorities are increasingly using electronic ankle bracelets on young people
NZZ am Sonntag: French Power Plants
France wants to build six new nuclear power plants by 2050, and the construction of eight more is to be examined.
Now it turns out that Paris also wants to ask Switzerland to pay, as the NZZ am Sonntag writes. “France considers it opportune that countries that do not want to have new nuclear power plants themselves, but are happy to import nuclear power from France, should contribute to the costs of building the planned new nuclear power plants in France.” The newspaper writes that Switzerland is also explicitly meant.
NZZ am Sonntag: Federal Councillor Warns Against G7
Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin’s Department of Economic Affairs (EAER) has warned in no uncertain terms against Switzerland joining the G7 oligarch task force.
This is revealed in a confidential letter from EAER Secretary General Nathalie Goumaz to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council, which is available to the “NZZ am Sonntag”.
If the Confederation were to join, this could “be interpreted both by the participants themselves and by other states as Switzerland’s participation in a ‘coalition of the willing of the West’ in a period of bloc formation”. This would break with neutrality and undermine Switzerland’s good offices.
NZZ am Sonntag: Municipality Welfare Consulting
SVP National Councillor Martina Bircher is regarded as the toughest social welfare leader in Switzerland.
In Aarburg AG, she has halved the cost of social welfare. The social welfare rate has fallen from 6.1% to less than 2%. As research by the “NZZ am Sonntag” shows, Bircher is now selling her political recipes to other municipalities: With her company Bircher Consulting, she helps other municipalities to reduce social welfare costs.
She has carried out around a dozen assignments with her start-up so far, said Bircher. Green Party National Councillor Irène Kälin finds it “disconcerting” that Bircher is turning her political recipes into a business. Especially because the SVP is always ranting about the so-called social industry.
The President of the Swiss Conference for Social Welfare, Christoph Eymann, is also critical of Bircher’s activities: Aarburg treats those affected by poverty with a great deal of mistrust, according to the SKOS President.
NZZ am Sonntag: No Cash? Pay Tax
Around one billion Swiss francs are tipped each year in the Swiss hospitality industry. As a rule, this is not taxed and is therefore dark money.
With the increasing replacement of cash by digital means of payment, this is now becoming a problem, as the NZZ am Sonntag writes. This is because the money appears in the accounts and must be recorded correctly. Restaurants are now declaring employee tips on their pay slips.
“There needs to be a rethink in the industry,” says Zurich restaurant entrepreneur Manuel Wiesner. He points out the advantages: Employees receive a higher pension in old age and are better insured against unemployment, illness and accidents.
However, the declaration is often met with disapproval from staff. This is because the taxes and social security contributions reduce their disposable salary. The Gastrosuisse association also does not want to see a rethink.
SonntagsBlick: Eritrean Violence Had Been Building
An Eritrean collective was written to Federal Councillor Beat Jans to draw his attention to the tense situation in the diaspora. The letter is dated March 16, according to SonntagsBlick.
In the letter, the authors, who oppose the regime, complain that they are being spied on, put under pressure and provoked by propaganda campaigns by those loyal to the regime.
SonntagsBlick: More Juvenile Crime and Punishment
In the fight against rising juvenile crime, Swiss authorities are increasingly turning to electronic ankle bracelets. Electronic monitoring (EM) is being used more frequently, particularly in the canton of Zurich, where juvenile crime has increased by 60% since 2016, as SonntagsBlick writes.
Between 2018 and 2022, 64 young people were monitored with EM in Zurich. While the Zurich authorities only counted 204 enforcement days in 2015, this figure had already risen to 1737 in 2022, with those affected wearing the ankle bracelet for between two and six months on average.
The canton of Aargau ordered electronic monitoring of minors a total of 40 times between 2019 and 2023. However, electronic monitoring is used rather cautiously, writes Beatriz Gil, Head of the Youth Ombudsman’s Office.
SonntagsZeitung: Business Contacts and Egyptian Property Development in Uri
Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris wants to use the Isleten UR peninsula for tourism. The cantonal government of Uri supports his project, although it has been warned by several parties that it cannot be approved because it violates nature and heritage protection laws, as the SonntagsZeitung writes.
A basic report, which was previously kept strictly secret and which the canton and the then landowner Cheddite AG had drawn up in 2020, shows that only soft tourism and minor buildings are possible on the Isleten for legal reasons.
After Sawiris acquired the land a year and a half later, the government adopted a report that stipulated significantly less stringent conditions. The newspaper writes of Sawiris’ dense network of contacts in politics and business.
SonntagsZeitung / Le Matin Dimanche: Shortages and a Lack of Expertise for the Elderly
When used correctly, medicines can alleviate a wide range of ailments in the elderly or even save lives.
However, figures from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) now show for the first time how many medicines are administered to elderly people in care homes. On average, 43 percent of all residents receive nine active ingredients or more, as the SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche write.
That is an extrapolation of around 50,000 elderly people in long-term care. They receive a particularly high number of active substances in the cantons of Fribourg and Ticino.
There are significantly fewer in Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden. There is often a lack of geriatric expertise, said Franziska Zúñiga, professor at the Institute of Nursing Science at the University of Basel.
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