Category: Switzerland

Switzerland will vote this summer on a proposal from the far-right Swiss People’s party (SVP) to limit the country’s population to 10 million, a move that would threaten key agreements with the EU and, opponents say, cripple the economy.

The government said on Wednesday the referendum on the SVP’s “No to a 10 million Switzerland” initiative, which is strongly opposed by both chambers of parliament and the business and financial services community, would be held on 10 June.

The initiative would oblige the Swiss government and parliament to act if the country’s permanent population, currently 9.1 million, exceeds 9.5 million by denying entrance to newcomers, including asylum seekers and the families of foreign residents.

If the population reaches 10 million, further restrictions would come into force, and if numbers do not start to fall the government would be required to pull out of the free-movement agreement it has with the EU, by far its biggest export market.

Switzerland’s population has grown about five times faster than the average in surrounding EU member states over the past decade, as its economic success has attracted both low-skilled workers and highly paid corporate expats.

About 27% of Swiss residents are not citizens, according to government figures. The SVP, the country’s largest political party, says the “population explosion” is inflating rents and straining public infrastructure and services to breaking point.

The party, which has finished first in every election since 1999, has long campaigned against immigration, highlighting crimes committed by foreigners and posting images of bloody knives, hooded criminals, fists and frightened women.

The radical nationalist changes it frequently proposes, such as a 2016 proposal to automatically deport immigrants found guilty of even minor offences, and a 2020 plan to end free movement with the EU, have not generally fared so well.

Switzerland’s system of direct democracy allows citizens to propose so-called popular initiatives that are put to a plebiscite if they get 100,000 backers in 18 months. They are a long-favoured tool of the SVP, but only about 10% of popular initiatives pass.

However, a poll in December revealed broad support from 48% of voters for the “No to a 10 million Switzerland” initiative, reflecting deeply divided sentiment about how open the country wants and needs to be in a fast-changing world.

Opponents, including multinationals such as Roche, UBS and Nestlé, say the proposal would jeopardise the bilateral agreements with the EU, including a deal reached last year over single market access, on which much of Switzerland’s prosperity rests.

Economiesuisse, a leading business lobby, has described it as the “chaos initiative” and warned that many Swiss companies rely on EU and other European workers, without whom they will have to relocate abroad, hitting tax revenue and services.

Rival parties have said a close relationship with Europe is Switzerland’s only option: about half of all the country’s exports go to the EU. Employers’ associations have said the population will increase mainly through natural growth and longer life expectancy.

For all legal intents and purposes, once a foreigner is naturalised, he or she becomes Swiss with all the rights, privileges, and obligations this entails.

At least in theory.

There have been occasional glitches in this regard, including from official government entities.

For instance, the law requires that candidates for naturalisation must submit letters of reference from Swiss citizens.

Several years ago, one such applicant did so, but since the people who wrote the letters were naturalised and had foreign names, the Sate Secretariat for Migration (SEM) told the applicant that those who are vouching for her should be “Swiss by descent” – in other words, indigenous, rather than naturalised.

SEM eventually admitted the error but in the meantime the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) defended this approach.

“It is obvious that one should not cite newly naturalised individuals as references,” the party’s MP, Pascal Schmid, said .

However, Barbara von Rütte, professor of migration law at the University of Bern, believes that this practice does indeed constitute a violation of the principle of equal treatment of citizens.

 

READ MORE: Switzerland accused of discrimination towards naturalised citizens 

What does the law say?

The Swiss Nationality Act clearly distinguishes between acquisition of nationality “by descent” – that is – transmitted at birth if at least one parent is Swiss – and acquisition “by naturalisation.”

However, the law does not establish any difference in rights between Swiss citizens by descent and naturalised ones.

Once nationality is obtained, all Swiss citizens are equal before the law (according to Art. 8 of the Constitution).

The Constitution also expressly prohibits all forms of discrimination, including that based on the method of acquiring nationality.

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So, can a naturalised citizen become the president of Switzerland?

Before we get to that top position, let’s look at the elected offices from bottom up – the grassroots approach that Switzerland’s democracy is known for.

Municipal and cantonal offices

Yes, naturalised citizens – and that includes those who have dual nationality – can run for, and be elected to these local and regional posts, including city councils and cantonal Parliaments.

They are not obligated to reveal that they obtained Swiss citizenship through naturalisation.

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Federal Parliament

Here too, naturalised and dual nationals are treated the same as Swiss-born citizens.

Hard-right SVP deputies have, however, been attempting to ban dual nationals – which means people who obtained Swiss citizenship through naturalisation – from the Parliament, on the grounds that they “don’t represent Switzerland’s best interests.”

There had even been a widely reported incident in fromt of the Parliament building in Bern in 2020, when SVP deputy Andreas Glarner insulted Green Party MP Sibel Arslan, who has both a Swiss and Turkish citizenship, telling her that Switzerland is a nation of law and order, “something that doesn’t exist in your country”.

READ MORE: Swiss politician’s call to ban dual citizens from becoming MPs sparks anger 

Nevertheless, dual citizens are still members of the Parliament, and the SVP’s efforts to ‘evict’ them from their seats got nowhere.

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What about the Federal Council?

Unlike the Parliament, where a number of deputies are naturalised, no Federal Council members in history had ever obtained citizenship this way.

But if any dual-national member of the Parliament would run for an empty Council  seat, nothing would prevent his or her fellow deputies from electing that person.

And that brings us back to the question of whether a naturalised citizen could become President of Switzerland..

The answer is yes – if their turn to hold that rotating role for one year comes up

READ MORE: Why does Switzerland’s president only serve one year? 

The shoe manufacturer On has been successful in its long-running battle with the Swiss authorities to use the Swiss cross on its running shoes.

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The company has confirmed earlier media reports that the Swiss cross will be allowed to feature on its sports shoes.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) explained on Monday that the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) had relaxed its practices. Companies that develop in Switzerland but produce abroad can – under certain conditions – use the Swiss cross.

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On faces complaint over use of Swiss cross on shoes made in Asia

This content was published on

Sep 3, 2025


Swissness Enforcement has filed a complaint in China against On for using the Swiss cross on shoes made in Asia.

Read more: On faces complaint over use of Swiss cross on shoes made in Asia

On welcomes this clarification, it told the Keystone-ATS news agency, saying it is appropriate for the times and takes reality into account. The strength of the Swiss economy lies not only in production, but also in innovation, research, development and design.

Since On was created 16 years ago, all of these above-mentioned stages are carried out at its Zurich headquarters, where over 1,100 people work.

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Swiss shoe company On exceeds CHF3 billion in sales for the first time

This content was published on

Mar 3, 2026


Sales rose by 30% to CHF 3.01 billion in its 15th anniversary year.

Read more: Swiss shoe company On exceeds CHF3 billion in sales for the first time

Adapted from Italian by AI/sb

Avalanches from heavy snowfall in the European Alps claimed more lives over the weekend, as a train was derailed by a snow slide in Switzerland on Monday and roads and villages around Mont Blanc were closed or placed under evacuation orders.

As large areas of the western Alps remained under a high risk of avalanche – following a week in which alerts reached category 5, the highest level – Swiss police said a train derailment caused by an avalanche injured five people near the town of Goppenstein.

The incident in Switzerland followed a series of deadly avalanches in the Alps in recent days involving skiers.

On Friday, two Britons were among three skiers killed in an avalanche while being accompanied by an instructor in Val d’Isère, in south-east France.

A French national, who was skiing alone, was also killed. The Albertville prosecutor, Benoît Bachelet, said the ski instructor, who avoided injury, tested negative after taking blood and drug tests. He added that another Briton had sustained minor injuries.

In another incident on Sunday, an avalanche claimed the lives of two skiers on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.

The incident occurred at about 11am in the Couloir Vesses, a popular off-piste route in Courmayeur, located in the upper Val Veny, near the border with France and Switzerland.

The incidents come on top of the record 13 off-piste skiers, climbers and hikers who died in the Italian mountains during the week ending 8 February, Alpine Rescue said last Monday, including 10 in avalanches triggered by an exceptionally unstable snowpack.

Fresh snowfall during recent storms and windswept snowcaps on weak internal layers have created especially risky conditions along the entire Alpine crescent bordering France, Switzerland and Austria, Alpine Rescue said.

“Under such conditions, the passage of a single skier, or natural overloading from the weight of snow, can be sufficient to trigger an avalanche,’’ said Federico Catania, a spokesperson for Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps.

Under the European avalanche warning system, grade 5 risk conditions are categorised as “extraordinary” and rare, being issued for conditions where the possibility of “numerous very large and extremely large natural avalanches (ie not victim triggered) can be expected” and posing danger to valley roads and settlements.

In grade 5 conditions. skiers and mountaineers are cautioned to avoid all but open and unthreatened slopes.

The currently very high risk levels in the mountains have been produced by a combination of factors including recent heavy falls of snow, combined with high winds that have deposited heavy and unconsolidated accumulations on an already unstable snowpack produced by lean snow conditions earlier in the season.

“We have had some very complicated, very unstable snow since the beginning of the season,” Luc Nicolino, slopes manager at the resort of La Plagne, told Agence France-Presse last week. “It’s a kind of mille-feuille with many hidden, fragile layers.”

Conditions were already dangerous in the wake of Storm Nils, which passed through the Alps last week depositing between 60cm and 100cm of snow with a further 40-50cm predicted in some areas of the Alps during Monday.

Among those caught up in the avalanches in the French Alps on Friday was Daniel Matthews, whose profile describes him as an adventure skier, who was buried for eight minutes after a couloir he was skiing collapsed and buried him before being dug out by his companions.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing here but I have been getting asked so many questions about the avalanche on Friday and to be honest I don’t know how to answer them and maybe could help people not to make the mistake I made,” Matthews wrote on Instagram.

“I made a very bad decision and uneducated decision to ski Skimans [sic] Couloir just off the Palafour lift in Tignes. “I dropped in and did one turn the whole couloir collapsed underneath me and I immediately tried to pull my [avalanche] airbag but as I was fell I fell forward making it impossible to reach my toggle, I was then quickly thrown into what felt like a washing machine and I just remember falling for about 35 seconds (about 400m) and then coming to a very quick stop.

“I hope I and other[s] may be able to learn some things. I didn’t follow the signs that day that were clearly there! and I paid for it. The only person to blame is myself,” he added.

Anti-immigration initiative would be ‘disastrous’ for Swiss universities

Yet another voice against the Swiss People’s Party’s (SVP) ‘No to 10 million’ initiative is added to a large chorus of opponents. 

Luciana Vaccaro, president of the umbrella group “Swissuniversities” umbrella group for higher education, said that accepting this measure in a referendum on June 14th would have a ‘‘disastrous’ effect on Switzerland’s institutions of higher education

That’s because “about half of the professors at our universities are foreign nationals,” she said.

Furthermore, Vaccaro pointed out that Swiss universities are among the best in the world because they attract top researchers from abroad and establish international partnerships.

Therefore, “this radical measure would cause enormous damage not only to the Swiss economy, but also to science,” she said.

READ MORE: Who is leading the fight in Switzerland against the anti-immigration proposal? 

Zurich finds a way to relieve its housing shortage

The Zurich municipal council presented its new building and zoning regulations (BZO), which define where and how construction will be permitted in the city.

The goal is to create more living space, as the city anticipates up to 40,000 new residents by 2050.

Authorities are planning to focus construction on areas where space is still available – that is, districts of Albisrieden, Altstetten, Oerlikon, Affoltern, Seebach, Schwamendingen, as well as Leimbach and Witikon.

Depending on the area, buildings will be permitted to grow by 15 percent in Albisrieden and up to 95 percent around the Letzigrund Stadium. 

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Geneva MPs vote to ban burkinis at public swimming pools

Geneva’s parliament has passed legislation banning burkinis in public swimming pools. 

The new law does not target this garment exclusively, but it stipulates that “the only swimwear permitted in pools are one-piece or two-piece swimsuits with a maximum length above the knees and leaving the arms bare.”

It therefore effectively excludes burkinis – full-body swimsuits sworn by some Muslim women.

It is not yet known when this measure will go into effect.

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SBB is expanding its seat reservation service

Since the end of 2025, Swiss Federal Railways have allowed passengers to reserve their seats in advance on some Zurich-Lugano and Basel-Lugano lines.

Now, this service is expanded to almost all long-distance lines against a 5-franc fee.

The following trains are included: Intercity FV Dosto, IC2000, ICN, as well as the IV and Astoro unified carriages.

Passengers can therefore take advantage of the new service on journeys to Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, St. Gallen, and Chur.

Reservations can be made via the SBB app or on the SBB website.

If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at news@thelocal.ch

 

A Swiss tourist has been arrested by the Indonesian authorities in Bali accused of using expletives to denigrate a Hindu religious holiday observed on the tourist island.

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The Swiss man, whose age is unknown, faces up to five years in prison on hate speech charges, a spokesman for the Bali police said.

Bali’s Day of Silence or “Nyepi,” was celebrated last Thursday and requires locals and tourists on the Hindu-majority island to stay at home for 24 hours for self-reflection. No work, travel, entertainment and even electricity use is discouraged.

The Swiss national was arrested on Saturday after he was reported to police over an Instagram post in which he allegedly repeatedly swore when referring to the religious holiday.

Bali attracts millions of foreign visitors each year.

Adapted from Italian by AI/sb

Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are to meet this week in Switzerland for a third round of talks brokered by the Trump administration, days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The two-day meeting, kicking off on Tuesday, is expected to mirror negotiations held earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, with representatives from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in attendance. Despite renewed US efforts to revive diplomacy, hopes for any sudden breakthrough remain low, with Russia continuing to press maximalist demands on Ukraine.

While the Abu Dhabi discussions were largely focused on military ceasefire proposals, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday the Geneva talks would address a “broader range of issues”, including territorial questions and other demands put forward by Moscow.

Vladimir Medinsky, an arch-conservative Putin adviser who has previously questioned Ukrainian sovereignty, will head Russia’s negotiating team. He will be joined by Igor Kostyukov, the chief of Russian military intelligence, and the deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, among nearly two dozen officials, Moscow has said. Ukraine is expected to send the same delegation as in earlier rounds, to be led in Geneva by Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said diplomacy would be more effective with “justice and strength”.

“Strength of pressure on the Russian Federation – sanctions pressure and steady, rapid support for the Ukrainian army and our air defence,” he wrote on social media.

The choice of Switzerland marks the first time the talks will be held on European soil after earlier rounds in Abu Dhabi and Istanbul.

The choice of Geneva appears to have been pushed by Washington. The Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are expected to lead US engagement with Russia and Ukraine, are scheduled to hold separate meetings with Iranian officials in the city later this week.

Trump, who throughout his second presidency has veered between criticising Moscow and Kyiv, reverted this weekend to placing blame on Zelenskyy, suggesting Ukraine was holding up efforts to end the war.

“Zelenskyy needs to act. Russia wants to make a deal. He needs to act, otherwise he will miss a great opportunity,” he said in comments to reporters.

But his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, speaking at the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, said Washington remained uncertain whether Russia was genuinely serious about ending the war in Ukraine.

Ahead of the Geneva meeting, Zelenskyy made clear Ukraine was unwilling to give up territory in the Donbas – a key Kremlin demand. He cited previous Russian land grabs in Chechnya, Georgia and Crimea and said that “allowing the aggressor to take something is a big mistake”.

“That is why now I do not want to be a president who will repeat the mistakes of his predecessors or other people … Because Putin cannot be stopped with kisses or flowers. I have never done this, and therefore I do not think that this is right. My advice to everyone: do not do this with Putin.”

He said Russia was losing 30,000-35,000 people a month, with its attempt to seize more territory over four years of full-scale war staggeringly costly and mostly unsuccessful. “Can you imagine that in the 21st century? I’m not sure he [Putin] knows that,” Zelenskyy said.

There were no expectations in Kyiv that the latest round of trilateral talks would led to a political breakthrough. Speaking in Munich on Saturday, Zelenskyy said his country would not give up the heavily defended north of Donetsk oblast, including the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, or abandon the 200,000 civilians who live there.

He said Ukraine would play a “constructive” role in the trilateral talks but acknowledged there were differences with the US over security guarantees. The Trump administration is offering 15 years, with Ukraine wanting an American commitment lasting 30-50 years. Kyiv hopes the war will end this year, Zelenskyy has indicated.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the presidential office, posted a photo of his departure by train for the talks with a Ukrainian delegation. He wrote: “On the way to Geneva. The next round of negotiations is ahead. Along the way, we will discuss the lessons of our history with our colleagues and seek the right conclusions. Ukraine’s interests must be protected.”

The history reference appeared to be a jibe directed at Medinsky. The former culture minister is believed to have written the 2021 essay attributed to Putin, which argued that Ukraine and Russia were a single people and state, with a common origin in the ninth century. His presence is being interpreted by Kyiv as a sign the Kremlin is not taking the talks seriously.

Olexiy Haran, a professor of comparative politics at the Kyiv-Mohyla academy, said Ukrainians were overwhelmingly opposed to growing US-Russian demands that Ukraine hold presidential elections. “The country is not ready for them because there are no security conditions. It would be crazy to conduct them under martial law,” he said.

Haran recognised Trump and Putin were putting “huge pressure” on Zelenskyy to hold a poll over the next few months. He said the Kremlin was trying to “destabilise” the situation inside Ukraine and would not agree to a ceasefire. There were numerous legal and practical obstacles to holding a vote, he added, not least the question of how international observers could take part.

He said: “Doubts of the government’s legitimacy is a trick of the Kremlin, echoed unfortunately by President Trump. Political renewal is needed, but elections can only take place once the war ends and security conditions allow.”