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European stories that shape Swiss trade, money, energy and daily travel.
The ECtHR declared Mahaim's application against Vaud's tax solidarity rules admissible, a hurdle only one application in ten clears. A win could reach beyond Switzerland.
After 22 hours of debate, senators approved CHF 193 million for Erasmus+, kept the wage compromise and hardened the immigration rules. The National Council is next.
By 23 votes to 17, senators chose a mandatory referendum on Bilaterals III, raising the bar to a double majority of voters and cantons.
Senators moved from Monday's entry vote into the contested clauses: wage protection, the referendum rule and dynamic adoption of EU law.
The Council of States voted 29 to 15 to open the Swiss-EU package. Detailed debate on wages and the referendum runs through Wednesday.
The SNB held at zero for another quarter, lifted its inflation forecast slightly, and softened the wording on franc intervention.
Ministers asked parliament to recommend a no vote on systematic border checks and a 5,000 asylum cap, with no counter-proposal.
The package is one vote in the diary and three arguments in any corridor that still has a coffee machine.
Frankfurt's patience left the franc where Swiss manufacturers already found it: manageable, not comfortable.
Frankfurt policymakers left the deposit rate unchanged at 2.75 percent, citing stable price growth across the eurozone.
Switzerland and China finished negotiations on an updated free-trade agreement at a meeting in Bern on Thursday.
The legal text did not change in August. The political weather around it did, after June's immigration Sunday.
Bern asked for comment until 19 November on governance, FINMA's tools and easier access to National Bank liquidity for systemic banks.
The cabinet rejected a constitutional push to bind Swiss finance to climate and biodiversity targets, and offered no counter-draft.
The Federal Council reaffirmed an optional referendum for Bilaterals III and asked senators not to enter a plan for a mandatory vote.
When France goes on holiday, Geneva's western platforms notice before the lake does.
Cassis said the choice of an optional referendum, without a cantonal majority, also has a tactical purpose: to give the EU package a realistic path.
The SNB held at zero, forecast Swiss growth of about 1 percent this year, and raised its readiness to resist a sudden franc jump.
The European Union is not on the WEF agenda as a headline. It is on every Swiss minister's lunch list.
The deadline is the end of the month. The adjectives arrived early.
Basel already dumps late German trains at the frontier. Schaffhausen wants the same courtesy.
The interesting number is not in the ECB statement. It is on the invoice in euros.
The package left the negotiating table and entered the Swiss machine: cantons, parties, and a deadline in October.
The river is doing its summer job: carrying other people's factories toward the sea.
Frankfurt did not surprise anyone. Bern still has to live with the euro's weather.
The dams looked better. The politics of what replaces them in 2040 did not.
When the river is high enough, Switzerland's seaport is a quay in Kleinhueningen. When it is not, it is a surcharge.
The file has a new name every year. This winter it is a package, and the fight is already about the ballot question.