Podcast
Behandelte Themen
- Die Schweizer Bundesstadt Bern
- Das neue Abkommen der Schweiz mit der EU
- Die Sparmassnahmen der Schweizer Regierung
- Der Unterschied zwischen Initiativen und Referenden
- Anstehende Initiativen
- Soll die Schweiz ihre Industrie unterstützen?
- Wachsende Schweizer Branchen
Mit wem wir sprechen
Katy Romy arbeitet seit 2015 als Journalistin bei Swissinfo. Sie ist Korrespondentin im Bundeshaus und berichtet über Politik für die Schweizer im Ausland. Sie lebt in Bern, stammt aber ursprünglich aus dem Berner Jura, dem französischsprachigen Teil des Kantons Bern.
(Foto: Thomas Kern / swissinfo)
Über die Episode
Katy bespricht mehrere Initiativen, über die 2025 und 2026 abgestimmt werden könnte. Initiativen sind von Parteien, Organisationen oder Einzelpersonen vorgeschlagene Gesetzesänderungen. Die Schweizer Öffentlichkeit kann über eine Initiative abstimmen, wenn das Komitee innerhalb von 18 Monaten mehr als 100.000 gültige Unterschriften sammeln konnte.
- Für gerechte Steuern: Derzeit zahlen verheiratete Paare mit zwei Einkommen mehr Steuern als unverheiratete Paare. Die Initiative zielt darauf ab, dies zu ändern, um die Diskriminierung von verheirateten Menschen zu beenden.
- Die Bargeldinitiative: Diese Initiative zielt darauf ab, die vollständige Digitalisierung der Schweiz zu verhindern und die Verwendung von Bargeld verfassungsrechtlich zu schützen.
- Die Foie-Gras-Initiative: Foie Gras kann nicht auf ethische Weise hergestellt werden, da die Enten oder Gänse zwangsgefüttert werden müssen. Die Initiative zielt darauf ab, Foie Gras in der Schweiz zu verbieten, um die Rechte der Tiere zu schützen.
- Die Feuerwerksinitiative: Feuerwerk ist in der Schweiz Tradition, aber es verursacht auch Umweltverschmutzung und ist für Tiere und lärmempfindliche Menschen belastend. Die Initiative zielt darauf ab, Feuerwerk zu verbieten.
Wir werden diese Liste aktualisieren, sobald die Initiativen zur Abstimmung kommen. Setzen Sie ein Lesezeichen für diese Seite und schauen Sie nächstes Jahr wieder vorbei, um zu erfahren, welche Initiativen angenommen wurden!
Ressourcen
Besuch des Schweizer Bundeshauses
Nächste Schritte
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Transkript
Kathrin: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Living in Switzerland. The series is brought to you by Rigby. We are a staffing and project services company based in Zurich. If you or anyone you know of is looking for a new role in Switzerland, or if you're looking to hire, let us know. We'd be happy to help.
The best way to do that is by going to rigby.ch/apply and filling out the form. Then, if we have anything that might be of interest, we'll gladly let you know.
Today, we are joined by Katy Romy. Katy has been working as a journalist at Swissinfo since 2015. She works as a correspondent at the Federal Palace and covers politics for the Swiss abroad.
She lives in Bern but originally comes from the French-speaking part of Canton Bern, the Bernese Jura.
Katy, welcome to the show.
Katy: Hi.
Kathrin: So, let's start by you telling us just a little bit about yourself and your work with Swissinfo.
Katy: Yes, as you said I've been working at Swissinfo since 10 years now.
And maybe one word about Swissinfo. It's the SBC international platform, which is in 10 languages. And we provide information about Switzerland, but foreign audience. And yeah, I'm working as a correspondent at the Federal Palace, which means I cover federal politics for the Swiss abroad, which is our target audience.
Kathrin: Yeah. And it's a very big target audience, isn't it? It's 800,000 people or something?
Katy: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of people all around the world, which are reading Swissinfo or listening to our podcast or watching our video, like, we are a multimedia platform.
Kathrin: Okay. Amazing. Yeah, and I personally use it a lot as well 'cause I'm also a Swiss abroad, of course.
Katy: Yeah. You're our target audience, actually.
Kathrin: Absolutely. Yes. Exactly.
So, where in Switzerland do you live? You said you're in Bern now, is that right?
Katy: Yes, it's right. So, I come from the French-speaking part of canton Bern, but I've been living in Bern, the country's capital, for several years now.
Yeah. And I really like the city of Bern because it offers all the possibilities of a capital city while still close to the nature. So, I really enjoy it.
Kathrin: Yeah, it's a very small capital city, isn't it? So, it doesn't take a lot of time to get out into the countryside, but you still have all those city things to enjoy.
Katy: Yeah, I think it could be considered as a village from outside perspective. I think it's very small.
Kathrin: Like in England, it might be considered a smaller town and not a big city, but yeah.
So obviously I'm also from Bern. What would you suggest if someone who hasn't visited Bern yet, what should they start with? What should they do? Maybe things that aren't so evident or, anything you can suggest?
Katy: Yeah. As we said, the city of Bern is quite small, but there are quite a few interesting things to visit.
I would visit the federal palace, which is the home of the Swiss Parliament. And yeah, I think it's possible to book a guided tour. Or, you have to book a guided tour. I think that's quite interesting. Or you can discover the old town. You can walk under the arches of the old town. I think it's very nice and can also be impressive for someone who doesn't know Bern.
Kathrin: Yeah, they're very convenient, these arches, aren't they? Because you stay dry even in the winter, even in wet weather, you can go shopping or...
Katy: Very convenient when it's raining.
Kathrin: Yeah. What about in the summer?
Katy: In the summer? One thing that is often fascinating I think, for people from abroad is that we can swim in the river that runs through the city in the summer.
So yeah, I think that's quite nice. Some people even say we swim to work in the river, but that's not really the case. We go after work.
Kathrin: Yeah. I think most people would go and have a dip after work. So some people, maybe the ones who don't mind the cold so much, might go in the morning when it's still a little bit colder than when the sun is out.
Katy: Yeah, actually there are also people going in the winter, but yeah.
Kathrin: Oh yeah.
Katy: It's quite fashionable at the moment to go also in the winter. But yeah, I don't do it.
Kathrin: But you have to go consistently then, don't you? You can't just one day decide in December, I wanna start swimming now. You have to do it through the autumn and get used to the colder temperatures.
Katy: Yeah. Yeah. I think you have like, a strategy to be able to do that.
Kathrin: Yeah. And then of course, there's the famous bear pit.
Katy: Yeah. That's also an interesting thing to look at, and yeah.
Before, when I was small, it was just a pit. And now it's a park with a lot of trees and rotor, which is much better for the animals. Before, it was a bit sad to see these bears in a pit with nothing. Yeah. It was not really nice.
Kathrin: Yes. But now they have their own section of the river even, and it's a much bigger habitat, isn't it?
Katy: Yeah. I think they have happy life now.
Kathrin: Better, yeah. Which means then that you can't always see them. Sometimes they're hidden, but that's good for them.
Katy: Yeah. But in the summer, you can definitely see them. They are around.
Kathrin: Yes, they’ll be more active.
Katy: Yeah.
Kathrin: Alright. So, you work, obviously, you report on politics a lot, right?
Katy: That's right. Yeah.
Kathrin: So, one important thing that happened recently is that late last year, Switzerland reached an agreement with the EU. So, can you tell us a little bit about that? Because that could have a lot of implications for the future, couldn't it? For Switzerland.
Katy: Yeah. That's really a big topic for Switzerland at the moment and also for the next years.
What can be said is that the very existence of an agreement can already be seen as a success because a solution has sometimes seemed impossible, especially after the Swiss government stopped the negotiation in 2021. So yeah, it's already good that we have an agreement, but it's not finished yet.
Next year the parliament will have to debate this package of agreements. And yeah, it means that the government will have to convince the two chambers, which will not be an easy task. And then, a popular vote will have to take place. But it will probably not happen before 2028.
Kathrin: Oh, wow.
Katy: So yeah, it's a long way to go.
Kathrin: It's a long process.
Katy: Yes.
Kathrin: Okay. And so basically the idea is that first, the government agrees on it and then the people have the final say?
Katy: Yeah, that's it. I don’t know what I can say. Yeah. But it'll take time because also there are already some opposition. There are two main areas of opposition. The most important is maybe the right-wing Swiss People's Party. Which is against any closer ties with the EU. And we also have the trade unions, which are concerned about protecting the Swiss wages.
Kathrin: Oh, I see. Okay. So there's these two that might speak out against it. And then depending on how the people feel, some people might not agree with the agreement, obviously.
Do we already know a little bit about how the agreement, or the lack of it, if it doesn't pass, might affect people living in Switzerland?
Katy: Yeah, basically the agreements are above all commercial agreements. But also, it's a stabilisation of the relationship between Switzerland and the EU. Yeah. And what we can say is that if the agreements were ultimately rejected by the people, this could, for example, call into question the free movement of people. This would make it, for example, harder for Swiss people to settle and work in EU countries.
Kathrin: Oh, I see. Okay. The lack of the agreement would affect Swiss, or people living in Switzerland, instead of... things might stay more the same if the agreement is accepted?
Katy: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah.
Kathrin: Okay.
Katy: Yeah, obviously, if it would be rejected, it could also have an impact on the Swiss abroad, like you, Kathrin. Some of their rights could be challenged. For example, they could be excluded from certain social benefits in their country of residence in the EU.
Kathrin: Oh, I see.
Katy: We don't know exactly but it could have an impact.
Kathrin: For Swiss abroad who live in an EU country, for example. Okay.
All right. And then obviously the other thing, which is a big topic I think in a lot of countries at the moment, is that the government wants to save money. So the Swiss government, if I understand it correctly, wants to save CHF 3.6 billion until 2027. Is that right?
Katy: Yes, the government want to save CHF 2.7 billion in 2027 and then CHF 3.6 billion in 2028.
Kathrin: Oh, I see. Okay.
Katy: So, these savings are intended to address the increase in military spending, which was decided by the parliament to cope with the new international security situation.
Yeah. And the government is proposing around 60 measures.
Kathrin: Okay. And so, what are the ones that might affect people the most?
Katy: Yeah, basically these measures affect almost all sectors except the military. And yeah, it will have a big impact, I think, on people because the social sector will be easily impacted. For example, the government wants to cut its contribution to the funding of childcare facilities.
Kathrin: Oh, okay.
Katy: They also want to cut climate policy, agriculture, also research. So yeah, it's quite a big deal.
Kathrin: Is the media affected as well?
Katy: Yes. Actually, Swissinfo is directly affected because the government also wants to cut the funding it provides to Swissinfo, and as we are funded 50% by the, conferred by the government, and 50% by the SBC. And it would mean that we would lose 50% of our budget, which would likely mean the end of Swissinfo.
But we hope that the parliament will not accept it.
Kathrin: Of course. Yeah. Because it's such an important thing to have English-speaking news and news in multiple languages, I think.
Katy: Yeah, it's the information channel for the Swiss abroad. This is also not good news in the current context, where the fight against fake news is quite an important issue. Yeah, it's definitely not good news.
Kathrin: Yeah. You need this kind of central and reliable information source.
Katy: Yeah, and media in 10 languages in Switzerland. Yeah. We are the only one, so.
Kathrin: Yes, of course. Yeah. Yeah.
Alright, we'll be back after a really short break.
(AD BREAK)
Alright, we're back.
So, we know that Swiss people get to vote on a wide range of issues multiple times a year, about three or four times usually. Just to clarify, for those people who might not yet be so familiar with this system, there are two types of electoral devices, right? Initiatives and referendums. What are the differences between them?
Katy: Yeah, basically, initiatives and referendums are both tools of direct democracy, but an initiative allows the people to request a modification of the federal constitution. It means that you have to collect a hundred thousand signatures within 18 months, and then the government has to organise a popular vote. And you also have two types of referendum.
If you have a facultative referendum. It means that the people can oppose a law already adopted by parliament. And you also have mandatory referendums. This is a popular vote which is required when parliament and, or the government want to amend the Constitution or join an international organisation such as the EU or NATO.
Kathrin: Okay. An example of this might be this motorway referendum that took place recently. Is that right?
Katy: Yes. It's right. It was last November. And at the end, it was rejected by the people.
Kathrin: Yeah. So, these referendums can have a significant impact, can't they? Because the government might want to pass something, but if the people don't agree, it can be rejected, and then the change can't take place.
Yes. That's right. It gives quite a lot of power to the people. So, the basic difference is initiatives actually are initiated by the people, but referendums are initiated by the government. Is that right?
Katy: Actually, not really, because the facultative referendum can also be initiated by the people.
They can with that oppose a law already adopted by the parliament. They also have to collect signatures within a certain amount of time. And then, the government has to organise a vote.
Kathrin: Okay. But that's not about any new laws, that's about a law that's already in the constitution?
Katy: Yeah. I mean it's like as you say, the motorway vote. It was a law proposed by the government, and then the people initiated a referendum, and then we had to vote about it.
Kathrin: Oh, okay. Because some people thought it was a bad idea, and then they initiated a referendum for that reason.
Katy: Yes, I think so.
Kathrin: Okay. Okay. So, are there any referendums coming up in the next year? So in 2025?
Katy: No, actually, it's not planned that any referendum is coming up, but there are several initiatives which have been successful.
Kathrin: Okay. So they've collected enough votes?
Katy: Yeah, they collected the hundred thousand signatures within 18 months. But not yet sure which one will be put to a vote.
Kathrin: This year.
Katy: Yeah, this year.
Kathrin: Okay. So others might be put to a vote next year.
Katy: They will all be put to a vote sometimes, but we don't know yet which one will be put to a vote this year.
Kathrin: Oh. Because it could take a long time?
Katy: Yeah, that's it. Because first, the parliament has to debate about it and then vote, and then it goes to the people.
Kathrin: Oh, I see. Okay. So, what are some of the possible initiatives for 2025 or maybe 2026?
Katy: Maybe, we will vote on a fair taxes initiative. This is quite an important issue because the tax calls for married couples to be taxed individually rather than jointly so that they do not pay more tax than single people. Today, married couples are discriminated compared with unmarried couples because they pay more tax. And the government also want to solve that problem, so they support individual taxation. But the government made its own project, which is called a counterproposal, and yeah, we will have to vote on the initiative and on the proposal of the government.
Kathrin: Okay. And then there's also a cash initiative, isn't there?
Katy: Yes, that's right. Basically, this cash initiative wants to ensure that coins and banknotes are always available. The goal is actually to avoid the complete digitalisation of currency.
Kathrin: Oh, okay. So that physical money won't completely disappear, even though it's becoming a less large proportion of the money.
Katy: Maybe we also will have to vote about the foie gras initiative, which is quite funny, I think. Because I think only the Swiss would have to vote once about foie gras.
Kathrin: Probably, yeah. So, what is the issue or the topic?
Katy: Yeah. So this popular initiative aims to ban the importation of foie gras and products made from foie gras because making foie gras is not nice for animals because you have to force-feed thousands of animals, so yeah, it's not ethical at all. And the Swiss Animal Alliance wants to ban that product.
Kathrin: And there's quite strict laws about animal welfare anyway in Switzerland. So, that kind of goes along with that.
Katy: I think so. But I think we will have a “Röstigraben”, as we call it, because the Swiss French people are used to eating foie gras, but I think in the Swiss German part, nobody is eating foie gras, or less people.
So, I think they won't mind if it's banned. Yeah, in the Swiss French part of Switzerland, we have more like, this French culture, and it’s like, a tradition to eat it for example, for Christmas.
Kathrin: Oh, I see.
Katy: It would be difficult to renounce.
Kathrin: Yeah. To convince people to vote for this.
But I suppose since the French-speaking part is much smaller than the German-speaking part of Switzerland, maybe the initiative does have a chance.
Katy: Yeah, I think so.
Kathrin: Let's see. We'll find out.
Katy: We also will maybe vote about fireworks.
Kathrin: Oh, okay.
Katy: Which is also quite funny. It's a text which proposes to ban the sale and use of fireworks.
Kathrin: By individuals or like by, in the whole country?
Katy: I mean in the whole country, but also the use by individuals, like I think it's a former journalist who is behind this initiative, and he said that fireworks cause stress for people who are sensitive to noise and also obviously for animals.
Kathrin: Yes. So, farm animals and pets and, yeah.
Katy: Yeah, I think it'll be quite difficult to convince people to say yes to this initiative because Switzerland is a very liberal country, and people don't like when something is banned.
Kathrin: Yeah. It's a big thing to ban, I think, because on, on the National Day, 1st of August, it's such a tradition to use fireworks. So, I wonder if there's some kind of middle way where you could allow it maybe for very short periods of time, like the week of 1st of August or something. Because for example, here in England where I live, we have fireworks for months and months in the autumn, and it is a bit excessive. So, maybe limiting the time or something like that could be more sensible.
Katy: Yeah, maybe. But I have to say that in the last year, there have been also less fireworks because a lot of cities are now doing a drone show instead of fireworks.
Kathrin: Oh yes. So, we have better or different technology now anyway, so it's less needed.
Katy: Because obviously fireworks are also not ecological. A lot of cities decided to replace it by drone shows.
Kathrin: Okay, interesting. Yeah. Yeah, that's an idea. So you can still have the display, but without the issues associated with it.
Katy: Yeah. I think it's a good alternative probably.
Kathrin: Yeah, I think so. And so, you recently held a debate on Swissinfo about Switzerland's struggling industries and whether the government should support them. Which industries are struggling in Switzerland?
Katy: Yeah, that's right. We are launching a debate on our page, and our users can contribute to it. So, we launched a debate about this topic and yeah, that's right that Swiss industry is going through a difficult period. The manufacturing industry is clearly the sector experiencing the most difficulties. Basically because the Swiss economy generates more than one in three Swiss francs abroad. Which means that the Swiss economy is quite vulnerable to geopolitical changes. So, one of the reasons for these problems is obviously the strength of the Swiss Franc.
Kathrin: Yes.
Katy: The decrease in the European demand plays a role in that as well.
Kathrin: Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense, especially with the strong Swiss Franc, that it would become more difficult to maintain the price.
Katy: Yes. That's it. And one of the industries which is suffering a lot is, for example, the steel industry.
Kathrin: Okay. Yeah.
Katy: Which is in deep crisis. The country's last two steelworks are facing big difficulties, and last year they announced major job cuts. So yeah, it's quite a big deal.
Kathrin: And how would the government support them? So, what's the idea behind this?
Katy: Yeah, to face these backdrops, people in Switzerland are calling for government intervention. But Switzerland is a very liberal country and doesn't have an industrial policy. It means that the government normally does not support certain industries. But last year, the parliament voted on support measures for strategically important steel companies. So now, they are able to benefit from these measures since the 1st of January. It means that they can be exempted from certain taxes for a period of four years.
Kathrin: Oh, okay.
Katy: So it's quite unusual for Switzerland to take such measures.
Kathrin: So, the benefits obviously of these measures are that the industries are more likely to survive or thrive or just able to do better. But some people are actually against introducing government support. So, why is that?
Katy: I am not an expert in the field, but many experts say that protectionism is not a good solution because you are basically maintaining industries that are not going well anyway. So maybe at the end, it's not really sustainable.
Kathrin: Okay. Yeah. Industries that might no longer be current in the modern world and therefore, you shouldn't artificially prop them up?
Katy: I think that's the theory, yeah.
Kathrin: Oh, I see. Okay.
Katy: So, people who are in favour of such measures, but obviously a lot are against it.
Kathrin: Right, yeah. So it's a bit split. And which sectors then are the opposite? Which ones are doing really well?
Katy: I think the situation is improving in the retail and wholesale sectors, and also, the hotel and catering sector is going better. The business situation is improving again. After the major slowdown during the pandemic.
Kathrin: Yes, of course. And I think there's been a lot of tourism in the last few years, right? It's recovering quite quickly.
Katy: I think this sector fully recovered from the pandemic by now.
Kathrin: Okay. Excellent.
Thank you very much for giving us all these insights.
How can listeners get in touch with you if they have a question, a follow-up question, or if they just want to follow along and hear more about these topics?
Katy: They can write me an email. My email is katy.romy@swissinfo.ch. And they can also look at our article on our page.
And now, we have a new app which can be downloaded in the Apple store, for example. And I can recommend it because it's very nice, and you have a lot of new functions.
Kathrin: Yeah. And just easy to access the content just from your phone or anywhere.
Katy: Yes. That's it. Yeah.
Kathrin: And then of course, participate in the debates. That's another thing that would be a good idea.
Katy: Yeah, we have a lot of debates on our page, and we encourage users to contribute to it because it's very interesting what they said. And yeah, I can only encourage people to participate.
Kathrin: And you can participate in any language, right?
Katy: Yes. The good thing is, you can also have an exchange, meet people who are speaking 10 languages because it's translated for you. So, I think it's quite an interesting option.
Kathrin: Yes, absolutely. Excellent.
All right, that's it for today. So, thanks once again to our guest, Katy for joining us.
Katy: Thank you, Kathrin, for having me. It was interesting speaking to you.
Kathrin: And thanks to you for listening. We'll include links in the show notes to our guest and to further materials about some of the topics that we've spoken about today. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a review on your favourite podcast platform.
Once again, this podcast was brought to you by Rigby. We're a staffing and project services company here in Zurich. If you would like our help either to hire or to be hired, let us know. Best way to do that is by going to rigby.ch/apply and filling out the form. You can also sign up for our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter to receive our living in Switzerland guide. We'll send you one email per month about expat-focused news and jobs in Switzerland.
So, thanks, and until the next time.