Autumn Session Opens as Two Campaigns Enter Their Final Weeks

BERN - The autumn session opened on Monday with health-cost leftovers, transport credits and the usual budget footnotes. Whips knew the real noise was outside: e-ID and second homes, both due on 28 September. Session time is not campaign time. The same people still do both jobs.

A few deputies left early for Zurich's Knabenschiessen, which shares the date with the opening day. That is also a Swiss timetable.

What can still be finished

Texts that need a quiet chamber will slip. They always do when a ballot is three weeks away. The session will rise before the weekend of the vote.