Around 1,000 Join Unauthorised Anti-Capitalism Rally in Bern, One Year After the Riots
Police from several cantons kept the anniversary rally out of the city centre. The route from the Rosengarten to the Reitschule ended without major incidents.
Switzerland
Swiss federal, cantonal and regional news from Bern to the cantons.
Monday, 12 October 2026
Rain Barely Dents Switzerland's Severe Drought, and the Coming Week Looks Dry Again
The 20 to 40 millimetres north of the Alps improved the water balance by only 15 to 35 percent. Record lows were measured on the High Rhine, and stage 4 stays in force.
Bern Weighs Traffic Lights at More Than 120 Motorway Entrances, and Accepts Queues on Local Roads
ASTRA lists 138 ramp metering projects since voters rejected new lanes. An internal note accepts jams on cantonal roads, and cities want a say.
Saturday, 10 October 2026
Baume-Schneider Defends VAT Rise to Fund the 13th Pension
A no vote on 29 November would leave the AHV CHF 5 billion short by 2035, the minister warned. VAT would rise from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, with the first 13th payment due in December.
GA Pass Tops CHF 4,000 for the First Time as Watchdog Halves the Rise
The second-class GA will cost CHF 4,095 from 13 December, up CHF 100 instead of the planned CHF 200. Documents show the industry first aimed for rises above 5 percent.
Swiss Cities Tighten the Rules on Airbnb as the Housing Squeeze Spreads
Lucerne caps short-term rentals at 90 nights a year, Zurich and Interlaken have followed, and Valais hoteliers want a level playing field. Bern is moving on nationwide data.
Sunday, 4 October 2026
Lex UBS Moves to the National Council With a 75 Percent Compromise in Play
FDP and SVP lawmakers want to soften the Senate's 90 percent rule. Committees meet on 26 and 27 October, and a referendum threat hangs over a bank-friendly outcome.
Saturday, 3 October 2026
Candidates Line Up for Parmelin's Seat as the SVP Weighs Its Ticket
Amaudruz, Rickli and Friedli head the early lists. The SVP names its candidates on 20 November and parliament votes on 9 December.
Friday, 2 October 2026
Guy Parmelin to Leave the Federal Council at the End of the Year
The economics minister and 2026 president steps down on 31 December after 11 years, citing weariness and denying health reasons. The election is on 9 December.
Autumn Session Ends With the EU Package Done and Lex UBS Left Open
Three weeks settled the Senate's line on Europe, kept Mercosur alive and sent the UBS capital law to the National Council. The winter session opens on 30 November.
State-Owned Space Supplier Beyond Gravity Discloses a Targeted Cyberattack
The aerospace firm found the first traces of a highly professional intrusion on 12 August and went public only after forensic work with Mandiant allowed it.
Thursday, 1 October 2026
Senate Finishes the EU Package With Erasmus Money and Tighter Residence Rules
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.
Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Senate Demands a Vote of People and Cantons on the Swiss-EU Treaty Package
By 23 votes to 17, senators chose a mandatory referendum on Bilaterals III, raising the bar to a double majority of voters and cantons.
Swiss Health Insurance Premiums to Rise About 5 Percent in 2027
The average premium reaches CHF 412 a month next year. Adults will pay CHF 487.60, and the switching window closes at the end of November.
Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Senate Opens Detail Debate on the Swiss-EU Treaty Package
Senators moved from Monday's entry vote into the contested clauses: wage protection, the referendum rule and dynamic adoption of EU law.
Monday, 28 September 2026
Senate Votes 29 to 15 to Take Up the Swiss-EU Treaty Package
The Council of States voted 29 to 15 to open the Swiss-EU package. Detailed debate on wages and the referendum runs through Wednesday.
Sunday, 27 September 2026
Voters Reject Stricter Neutrality Rules in Every Canton
All 26 cantons and 70.15 percent of voters rejected a stricter constitutional definition of neutrality. The food initiative also lost.
Saturday, 26 September 2026
Schlegel Says Oil, Not the Hot Summer, Drove the Inflation Rise
Martin Schlegel told SRF the dry summer showed up in food prices, while the rise in Swiss inflation was still almost all petroleum.
Friday, 25 September 2026
Postal Votes Are In as Switzerland Prepares Two Sunday Ballots
With two days to go, the last national polls still have both 27 September initiatives behind. Most ballots in Switzerland are postal.
Thursday, 24 September 2026
SNB Holds Its Policy Rate at Zero as Energy Lifts Inflation
The SNB held at zero for another quarter, lifted its inflation forecast slightly, and softened the wording on franc intervention.
Insurer Puts Summer Crop Damage at CHF 59 Million
Hagel Schweiz expects CHF 59.2 million in crop losses and about 5,800 claims after the driest, hottest April-to-August stretch since 1901.
Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Senate Requires UBS to Back Foreign Units With 90 Percent CET1
The Council of States chose 90 percent CET1 backing for UBS foreign units, stricter than the committee plan and short of the government's 100 percent.
Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Keller-Sutter and Ermotti Clash Ahead of the UBS Capital Vote
The finance minister and the UBS chief executive restated capital positions that do not meet, a day before the Senate vote.
Monday, 21 September 2026
Senate Backs a CHF 24 Billion Defence Fund and a Smaller VAT Rise
Senators kept a CHF 24 billion defence fund, doubled the loan ceiling to CHF 12 billion, and cut the VAT rise to 0.2 points.
Sunday, 20 September 2026
One Week Out, the Neutrality Vote Still Leans No
Published polls still show the 27 September neutrality initiative heading for defeat, with no newer national survey yet.
Saturday, 19 September 2026
Bern Climate Grandparents Claim a Parking Space for People
Climate grandparents marked a Bahnhofplatz parking bay and asked Bern to see 15 square metres as public space.
Friday, 18 September 2026
Federal Council Rejects Border Checks and a 5,000 Asylum Cap
Ministers asked parliament to recommend a no vote on systematic border checks and a 5,000 asylum cap, with no counter-proposal.
Trains Resume After a Night of Disruption on the Lausanne Lines
An electrical fault stopped Lausanne, Geneva and Yverdon trains for hours on Thursday night. Services were back by morning.
Thursday, 17 September 2026
UBS Chairman Says the Bank May Rethink Switzerland if Rules Are Too Tight
Colm Kelleher said UBS may have to rethink Switzerland if it cannot compete. The Senate delayed the capital vote to 23 September.
Wednesday, 16 September 2026
Autumn Session Corridors Talk Neutrality Polls and EU Safeguards
The floor has an agenda. The coffee machine has a later one, and this morning it was a survey.
Final Polls Show Swiss Voters Set to Reject Tighter Neutrality Rules
Two surveys published Wednesday put the neutrality initiative well behind with ten days left before the 27 September ballot.
Tuesday, 15 September 2026
Farm Leaders Call Senate Mercosur Deal a Bribe With Extra Beef
The Senate offered a package. The unions offered the same no, with an invoice attached.
Senate Revives Mercosur Trade Deal With Farm Support Package
Senators voted 35 to 7 to revive a South American trade pact the National Council rejected in June, pairing it with new money for farmers.
Heat Pumps Now Warm a Quarter of Swiss Residential Buildings
New building figures show heat pumps racing ahead in new homes while oil still heats a third of the existing stock.
Monday, 14 September 2026
Parliament Opens Autumn Session With EU Treaties and Army Funding
Lawmakers returned to the Bundeshaus on Monday for a three-week sitting that will test the bilateral path with Brussels and the cost of rearmament.
National Housing Vacancy Rate Falls Below One Percent
Official figures now put Switzerland under the one percent vacancy line that analysts treat as a shortage.
Saturday, 12 September 2026
Food Security Initiative Trails as Farmers Split on the Ballot
A proposal to write higher self-sufficiency into policy is losing ground, including in some rural districts that usually back farm causes.
Friday, 11 September 2026
Lawmakers Prepare to Debate CHF 24 Billion Defence Fund
Rearmament meets the debt brake next week, when the large chamber takes up army money that supporters call overdue and critics call a blank cheque.
Thursday, 10 September 2026
Federal Council Sets 2035 Climate Targets Ahead of Autumn Session
The revised framework links national emission cuts to cantonal grants, setting up a tense debate when parliament returns to Bern.
Tuesday, 8 September 2026
Swiss Abroad Watch Dual Citizenship Debate Before the Autumn Sitting
Before the first gavel in the Bundeshaus, consular groups asked deputies not to treat overseas voters as an afterthought.
Sunday, 6 September 2026
SBB Extends Siemens Rail Control Support Into the Next Decade
The old control software will not retire on a slogan. SBB is paying to keep it safe while the next platform is designed.
Saturday, 5 September 2026
Basel Life Sciences Corridor Holds Hiring Plans Into Autumn
Along the Rhine the dominant employers still talk in product cycles, not in parliamentary committee minutes.
Friday, 4 September 2026
Neutrality Campaign Buses Work the Market Towns of Basel-Landschaft
A campaign bus is a village hall that can still find a parking space.
Ticino Cross-Border Commute Tests Housing and Train Capacity
In Lugano the morning crowd on the platform still speaks more Italian than Swiss German, and the arguments have not aged out.
Thursday, 3 September 2026
Lausanne Students Return to a Rental Market With Almost No Slack
Noticeboards at the metro filled faster than the remaining studios in Renens and the old town.
Wednesday, 2 September 2026
Alpine Resorts Close a Summer Season Under the Glacier Line
The postcard is still for sale. Some of the paths in the picture are not.
Tuesday, 1 September 2026
Keller-Sutter Criticises Committee Move to Soften UBS Capital Rules
The first political fight of September is about how much equity Switzerland's largest bank must hold after swallowing Credit Suisse.
Monday, 31 August 2026
Police Arrest a Suspect After a Woman Is Killed at an Aarau Rave
Aargau police arrested a 43-year-old Swiss man after a Sunday-night shooting at an Aarau rave that killed Maria Spinelli, 22.
Autumn Session Preview: EU Treaties, Army Money and a Ballot in Week Two
September in Bern is a sitting with a Sunday in it, again.
Friday, 28 August 2026
Two September Initiatives Share a Sunday and Almost No Overlap
One Sunday, two pamphlets, and only one conversation that fits on television.
Thursday, 27 August 2026
West Nile Virus Found in a Swiss Horse for the First Time
Because the horse had never left the country, the case is the first equine infection acquired in Switzerland, the IVI said.
MeteoSwiss Switches On an AI Warning for the Next Hour of Storms
Every five minutes the model reads radar and lightning data and posts the odds of hail, lightning and downpours for the coming hour.
Commuters Meet the Neutrality Argument Above the Ticket Machines
The slogan above the ticket machine is not subtle. That is why it is there.
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Swiss Property Risk Eases for the First Time in Three Years
The Real Estate Risk Index slipped to 3.5 in the second quarter, the first easing in three years, with no broad price correction in sight.
Neutrality Campaign Ads Fill Stations Ahead of 27 September
The word neutrality now comes with a URL and a colour scheme.
Monday, 24 August 2026
September Ballot Posters Begin to Replace the August Flags
The flags from 1 August are barely down. The next red square is already a URL.
Saturday, 22 August 2026
Scientifica Opens a Nine-Day Science Festival Across Zurich
Scientifica, Switzerland's largest science festival, opens in Zurich for a run that lasts until 30 August.
Friday, 21 August 2026
UBS Capital Fight Quietly Occupies August Committee Calendars
The bank file did not go on holiday. It just stopped giving interviews.
Thursday, 20 August 2026
Bern and Beijing Close Talks on an Updated China Trade Deal
Switzerland and China finished negotiations on an updated free-trade agreement at a meeting in Bern on Thursday.
Parties Split on Using Tax Surpluses to Buy Arms
The hole in the surplus rule is small on paper. Precedents are not measured in millimetres.
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Government Floats Using Tax Surpluses to Buy Arms
The debt brake has a new competitor: the shopping list in the armoury.
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Three Zurich Officers Hurt During an Arrest at Oberer Letten
A check on Wasserwerkstrasse turned into an assault on officers. Three were sent for medical examination. The suspect was arrested.
Sunday, 16 August 2026
Locarno Packs Away a 79th Festival After 11 Days on the Piazza
Eleven nights on the Piazza Grande are Ticino's other high season, with a red carpet instead of a ski ticket.
Saturday, 15 August 2026
Assumption Holiday Fills Valais Churches and the Last Festival Trains
Catholic cantons stop for a holy day. The piazza in Locarno does not.
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Federal Council Opens Consultation on Bank Crisis Rules
Bern asked for comment until 19 November on governance, FINMA's tools and easier access to National Bank liquidity for systemic banks.
Federal Council Rejects the Financial Centre Climate Initiative
The cabinet rejected a constitutional push to bind Swiss finance to climate and biodiversity targets, and offered no counter-draft.
Federal Council Sticks to an Optional Vote on the EU Package
The Federal Council reaffirmed an optional referendum for Bilaterals III and asked senators not to enter a plan for a mandatory vote.
Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Locarno Logs 47 Tropical Nights and Breaks the 2003 Mark
Locarno-Monti has not dropped below 20 degrees on 47 nights, a Swiss record. Lugano stands at 44, and the level-four warning runs to Friday.
Monday, 10 August 2026
Finance and Defence Ministries Prepare an Army Money Briefing
The debt brake is about to meet a shopping list. The meeting will not be a quiet one.
Saturday, 8 August 2026
Zurich Stages the 33rd Street Parade Along the Lake
Love mobiles and electronic music take the Zurich lake basin from early afternoon until midnight for the 33rd Street Parade.
Food Security Initiative Shares the August Calendar, Not the Spotlight
The second item on 27 September has fewer posters and the same letterboxes.
Thursday, 6 August 2026
Neutrality Campaign Enters Its Hot Phase With 52 Days to Go
August is when a September initiative stops being a legal text and becomes a colour scheme.
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
August Alpine Beds Hold as Cities Stay Hot
Heat in the plateau is still the Alps' most reliable booking engine.
Saturday, 1 August 2026
National Day Speeches Lean on Security as Bonfires Light the Lake
The speeches named security. The fields named a Saturday night.
Friday, 31 July 2026
Zurich Lake Shore Prepares Bonfires for a Saturday National Day
A Saturday National Day is easier on the office and harder on the lakefront.
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Basel Hits 39.7 Degrees and Matches the Northern Record
MeteoSwiss recorded 39.7 degrees at Basel-Binningen, matching the hottest day ever measured north of the Swiss Alps.
Graubuenden Keeps Red-and-White Tape on Several High Paths
The tape is not a metaphor. It is a piece of plastic across a path that used to be in the brochure.
Tuesday, 28 July 2026
July Rains Fail to Refill a Country Still on Drought Watch
A month after the top drought alert, MeteoSwiss says mid-July rain has not repaired reserves. Major lakes are running low for the season.
Communes Ready Bonfires and Speeches for 1 August
The federal holiday is a local production. Bern only writes the date.
Saturday, 25 July 2026
Lugano Heat Pushes Residents to the Lake and the Night Hours
When the air sits still over the bay, the city moves its life to 6 a.m. and to the water.
Thursday, 23 July 2026
Bern Bans Forest Fires and Fireworks Ahead of National Day
Bern forbids fires within 50 metres of woods and bans fireworks canton-wide. Basel-Stadt moves to danger level 5 from Friday.
Wednesday, 22 July 2026
SBB Summer Track Work Hits Romandie Weekends
The holiday timetable is also a construction timetable. Passengers notice only the second fact.
Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Zermatt Guides Shorten High Tours After More Bare Ice
The postcard is for sale in every window. Some of the paths in the postcard are taped shut.
Monday, 20 July 2026
Bern Uses Deterrence After a Wolf Injures a Calf at Schwarzhorn
Canton Bern said a wolf is the likely cause of a calf's fatal injuries near Schattenhalb, and that shooting is not allowed in the reserve.
Saturday, 18 July 2026
Lucerne and the Lakes See a Strong July Without Cheap Snow Stories
The paddle steamers were full. The high tours were more cautious than the postcards.
Thursday, 16 July 2026
Asylum Applications Fall 16 Percent in the First Half of 2026
The migration secretariat recorded 9,734 asylum claims from January to June, 16 percent fewer than in the first half of 2025.
Cooling Demand Rises in a Building Stock Still Designed to Hold Heat
Swiss buildings were good at keeping winter in. They are still learning how to let July out.
Monday, 13 July 2026
MeteoSwiss Chief Says Radar Replacements Are at Risk in the Cuts
Stefan Uhlenbrook told Blick the 27th austerity package hits a service that is already lean, and that old radars mean worse warnings.
Saturday, 11 July 2026
Engadine Summer Beds Fill Without a Glacier Guarantee
The high village still sells a view. Some of the paths in the view are no longer the product.
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
Cassis Says a Cantonal Majority Would Raise the Bar on the EU Deal
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.
Broye Farmers Call the July Outlook Uneven After a Dry Spell
A dry week in the Broye is a water conversation before it is a food-security conversation.
Tuesday, 7 July 2026
Accident Cover Proposed for All Victims of Sexual Violence
Ministers want health harm from sexual assault, including attacks on unconscious people, to count as an accident for insurance.
Rhine Levels Let Basel Port Work a Normal July
A boring river is good news in a city that imports by water.
Saturday, 4 July 2026
City Heat Offices Issue the First Serious Warnings of July
The first warning is always about water, shade and the people who live under a roof that was designed for a cooler century.
Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Half-Year Economy Looks Modest as Franc and Rates Stay Sticky
The first six months did not deliver a boom. They did not deliver a bust. That is a Swiss kind of news.
Friday, 26 June 2026
Basel Pharma Corridor Closes a Steady First Half
Along the Rhine the first half is measured in product cycles, not in ballot nights.
Thursday, 25 June 2026
Government Raises the Drought Alert After a Dry Spring
Bern raised the national drought alert to the maximum on 25 June. Rain since April has run at about half the usual amount.
Monday, 22 June 2026
Greens Open Signature Collection Against New Nuclear Plants
The tables went up three days after the gavel. That is how a parliamentary yes becomes a maybe.
Friday, 19 June 2026
Summer Session Closes After Lifting the Nuclear Ban in Law
Three weeks in June produced a legal door for nuclear, a political wall for Mercosur, and a petition for the summer.
Thursday, 18 June 2026
SNB Leaves the Policy Rate at Zero and Watches the Franc
The SNB held at zero, forecast Swiss growth of about 1 percent this year, and raised its readiness to resist a sudden franc jump.
Parliament Votes to Lift the Ban on New Nuclear Plants
The law that closed the nuclear door is being taken off the hinges. Voters will get the last word.
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Nuclear Ban Heads to the Floor With a Referendum Already Promised
Tomorrow's parliamentary yes is not the last word. It is the starting gun for a petition.
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Bourgeois Parties Claim the Army Door, Left Claims the Cities
Tuesday's sentences were already written on Sunday. They were merely given percentages.
Monday, 15 June 2026
Immigration Debate Does Not End With a Lost Population Cap
Losing an initiative is not the same as losing an argument. On Monday both sides proved that.
Civilian Service Tightening Passes Narrowly at 52.46 Percent
The army got a stickier door, by a margin that would fit on a single refresher company.
Sunday, 14 June 2026
Voters Reject 10 Million Population Cap by 54.79 Percent to 45.21
The number on the poster did not become a clause. It became a 45 percent warning.
Polling Stations Open on a High-Salience June Sunday
The gymnasiums opened. The crates that arrived last week may already have decided the shape of the night.
Saturday, 13 June 2026
Winterthur Market Mixes 10 Million Flyers With Army Leaflets
A market Saturday in Winterthur is a good place to learn which argument still needs a flyer.
Friday, 12 June 2026
National Council Rejects Mercosur Deal After Farm Protests
The first parliamentary no was loud. It was not, it turned out, the last word.
Thursday, 11 June 2026
Federal Council Makes Its Last Appeal Against the Population Cap
The government's last sentence was long. The campaign's last sentence was a number.
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Farmers Demonstrate in Bern Ahead of Thursday's Mercosur Vote
The market-square argument arrived on a tractor, which is how Bern knows it is serious.
Monday, 8 June 2026
Defence Ministry Says Refresher Courses Are Already Short of People
The army's last argument is a table, not a flag.
Thursday, 4 June 2026
Late June Polls Keep the Population Cap Behind, Army Law Ahead
The cap is losing. The staffing law is winning by a margin that still fits in a rounding error.
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Civilian Service Law Asks Voters to Make the Army Door Stickier
The official aim is fewer transfers. The official method is more days.
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Final Week of the 10 Million Campaign Turns on Housing and Labour
Both sides now campaign with the same photograph of a queue, and draw opposite morals from it.
Monday, 1 June 2026
Summer Session Opens Under the Shadow of a 14 June Ballot
The first week of June in Bern is a sitting. The second is a campaign. The third is both.
Friday, 29 May 2026
Greens Prepare a Referendum Pledge If Parliament Lifts the Nuclear Ban
The legal door may open in June. The political door would then face a petition table.
Thursday, 28 May 2026
Summer Session Preview: A Ballot in Week Two and a Nuclear Vote in Week Three
June's sitting has a Sunday in the middle of it. That Sunday will set the tone for the floor.
Monday, 25 May 2026
Whit Monday Puts Lake Thun and the Oberland Back on Holiday Time
The second short holiday in a fortnight is how central Switzerland balances its May books.
Friday, 22 May 2026
Chiasso Morning Queue Still Sets Ticino's Labour Argument
The 10 million poster is national. The 6:40 a.m. queue is local.
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Builders Say May Permit Figures Confirm a Financing Brake
The drawings are in the drawer. The loan is in committee.
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Building Permits Lag Demand as Finance Costs Stay Sticky
The drawings exist. The credit committee is in no hurry.
Friday, 15 May 2026
Emmental Producers Watch Milk Prices as Mercosur Talks Continue
The cheese has a name the world knows. The price conversation is local and grimly specific.
Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Ascension Weekend Fills Lake Steamers and Short Alpine Hops
A Thursday holiday is a gift to the lakes. It is a puzzle for the timetables.
Monday, 11 May 2026
Rhine Spring Levels Keep Basel Port on a Normal Loading Pattern
A river that behaves is not news, except that several recent summers trained everyone to treat it as news.
Friday, 8 May 2026
May Polls Show the 10 Million Initiative Short of a Majority
The number on the poster is popular. The legal cap is less so, once people hear what it would bind.
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Army Staffing Argument Settles on the Civilian-Service Door
The barracks problem is being sold as a door problem.
Monday, 4 May 2026
Geneva Spring Lettings Still Open at the Top of the Market
The cranes are busy. The affordable queue is not any shorter.
Friday, 1 May 2026
Labour Day Marches Tie Wages to Premiums and Rents
The speeches named two bills that arrive at home: the premium and the rent.
Thursday, 30 April 2026
Special Session Closes and Points Straight at the June Ballot
The extra days did their job. The next crowd will not be in this chamber.
Wednesday, 29 April 2026
Rail Credits Clear the Special Session After March Bottleneck
Track possessions are booked in months, not in speeches. That is why this dull vote had a deadline.
Tuesday, 28 April 2026
Special Session Day Two Grinds Through Transport Money
The public gallery was half empty. The credit lines were not.
Monday, 27 April 2026
Special Session Sits for Four Days on Overflow Files
Four extra days in Bern is not a crisis. It is a sign the ordinary calendar did not fit.
Friday, 24 April 2026
Civilian Service Referendum Enters Its Last Seven Weeks
The army says too many conscripts leave for civilian service. The referendum committee says the door should stay a door.
Thursday, 23 April 2026
Deputies Prepare a Four-Day Special Session on Overflow Files
Four extra days in Bern is a scheduling confession, not a crisis.
Thursday, 16 April 2026
Farm Unions Warm Up Against Mercosur Before the Summer Sitting
The trade text is still a committee file. The market-square argument is already written.
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Valais Reopens High Roads After the Mid-April Dump
The snow that closed the weekend did not stay in the forecast. It stayed on the road.
Sunday, 12 April 2026
Late Spring Avalanches Close High Routes After a Heavy Dump
Spring sun on new snow is a pretty combination and a bad one.
Friday, 10 April 2026
10 Million Campaign Finds a Hearing in Aargau Factory Towns
The housing queue is real. Whether a population ceiling would shorten it is the argument.
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Energy Committee Prepares the Vote to Lift the Nuclear Ban
The 2017 door-closing law is now a committee paper about opening it again.
Monday, 6 April 2026
Easter Monday Return Traffic Backs Up Below the Jungfrau
The postcard towns emptied from the car parks outward.
Sunday, 5 April 2026
Easter Sunday Draws Crowds to Einsiedeln and the Lake Churches
The abbey square took the pilgrims. The landing stages took everyone else.
Friday, 3 April 2026
Good Friday Empties City Centres and Fills the Trains That Remain
The bells marked a fast. The reservation system marked a peak.
Thursday, 2 April 2026
Zurich Main Station Fills as Easter Weekend Travel Starts Early
The holiday weekend began in the underpass, not at the church door.
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
SBB Warns of Full Trains Toward the Alps for the Easter Weekend
The holiday is a week away. The reservation graph is already a problem.
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
SVP Opens the National Phase of the 10 Million Initiative
The next Sunday already has a number on the poster: 10 million, written as a warning.
Friday, 20 March 2026
Spring Session Closes With Overflow Already Dated for April
Three weeks in March were not enough. They almost never are.
Thursday, 19 March 2026
SNB Leaves Policy Unchanged at Its March Assessment
The central bank's March sentence was the one markets had written down in advance: no change, and a reminder about the franc.
Monday, 16 March 2026
Spring Session Midpoint Returns to Premiums and Transport Credits
Sunday's percentages left the building. Monday's papers did not include them.
Thursday, 12 March 2026
March Turnout Lands Near 56 Percent Across the Five Items
Five questions did not produce five turnouts. They produced a band just under 56 percent.
Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Cash Stays Legal After Voters Prefer the Counter-Proposal
Notes and coins remain part of the constitution's furniture. Cards remain what most city tills prefer.
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Parties Read Monday's Map: Broadcasting Kept, Climate Fund Buried
Everyone found a sentence that fitted their poster. Only some of those sentences fitted the percentages.
Climate Fund Dies at 29.3 Percent With No Canton in Favour
A spending vehicle that wins no canton is not a near miss. It is a verdict on the vehicle.
Monday, 9 March 2026
SRG Treats the Licence-Fee No as a Reprieve, Not a Mandate
The broadcaster survived the ballot. It did not escape the budget.
Individual Taxation Yes Starts a Long Rewrite of Tax Software
The principle is simple. The migration of a million tax files is not.
Sunday, 8 March 2026
Voters Keep the Licence Fee and Reject a Climate Fund
Public broadcasting survived. A large climate spending vehicle did not. Two other items on the same Sunday did better.
Midday Turnout Looks Like a Serious Sunday, Not a Record
By lunch the pattern was familiar: heavier in the east, lighter on the lake, enough envelopes to call it a real Sunday.
Polling Stations Open on a Five-Item Federal Sunday
The rooms in school gyms look the same every Sunday. The stack of papers on the table does not.
Saturday, 7 March 2026
Last Stalls Go Up in Olten Before the Five-Item Sunday
Olten is where the country's trains meet. On the last Saturday, so do the flyers.
Friday, 6 March 2026
Communes Log a Steady Postal Flow Ahead of Sunday
Most Swiss votes are decided at the kitchen table, then walked to a yellow box.
Thursday, 5 March 2026
Final Polls Point to a No on the Fee Cut and the Climate Fund
The last numbers before a Swiss Sunday are not a prophecy. They are a map of which fights are still alive.
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Individual Taxation Is a Fairness Vote With an IT Bill Attached
The principle fits on a flyer. The migration of a million files does not.
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Cash Vote Is Two Texts and a Deciding Question
You can like cash and still prefer the government's paragraph to the initiative's.
Climate Fund Asks Voters for a Permanent Slice of GDP
The fund's backers talk about flood walls. Its opponents talk about a second budget that never closes.
Monday, 2 March 2026
Licence-Fee Cut Would Hit Regional News First, SRG Says
The number on the poster is 200. The number in the newsroom is how many desks remain in Chur and Lausanne.
Spring Session Opens With a Vote Sunday Already in the Diary
The first gavel of the year landed six days before a five-item ballot. The two calendars will trip over each other all fortnight.
Sunday, 1 March 2026
Five Federal Items Share One March Sunday
It is a lot of constitution and statute for a single breakfast table.
Friday, 27 February 2026
Cash Campaigners Warn of a Card-Only Country Ahead of 8 March
The argument is about whether a card reader can ever be allowed to become the only till.
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
Tuesday at Fasnacht Belongs to Children and Guggenmusik
The 4 a.m. pilgrims left. Families and brass replaced them.
Monday, 23 February 2026
Morgenstreich Starts Basel Fasnacht at 4 a.m. in the Dark
At the fourth chime, the city went dark and the piccolos took the alleys.
Saturday, 21 February 2026
Women's Groups Push Individual Taxation in the Last Stretch
The slogan is fairness for married women. The implementation is a software project measured in years.
Thursday, 19 February 2026
Climate Fund Backers Struggle to Make a Percentage Sound Concrete
A fund described as a share of national output has to survive a kitchen-table test. So far it is failing that test.
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Ash Wednesday in Basel Is a Working Day With Lanterns in Cellars
In Basel, Ash Wednesday is not the end of carnival. It is the last rehearsal week.
Monday, 16 February 2026
Neutrality Initiative Moves From Petitions to a Date in September
The signatures were already in. The slogans were being tested in village halls.
Friday, 13 February 2026
SRG Fee Fight Moves From Talk Radio to Station Posters
The household levy is an amount people know. That makes it a better poster than most federal texts.
Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Federal Chancellery Sends the March Booklet for a Five-Item Sunday
The red booklet is how most people meet a federal vote. This one has more chapters than a quiet Sunday deserves.
Monday, 9 February 2026
Geneva Winter Lettings Leave Little Room Below the Lake
A three-room flat in Eaux-Vives still moves faster than the tram that serves it.
Saturday, 7 February 2026
Lucerne Fasnacht Fills the Old Town Ahead of Ash Wednesday
The lake city does its carnival before Basel, and louder.
Wednesday, 4 February 2026
Neutrality Campaign Takes the Village-Hall Circuit in Inner Switzerland
A Tuesday night in Schwyz still rewards a short speech about independence. It is less kind to a paragraph about UN sanctions procedure.
Monday, 2 February 2026
EU Package Stays in Committee as Neutrality Campaign Warms Up
The legal text of the EU files grew by footnotes. The political text of the year grew by posters.
Saturday, 31 January 2026
Gotthard Road Tunnel Logs a Busy Last Weekend of January
The tunnel does not care whether the guests were in Davos for the Forum or in Andermatt for the snow.
Friday, 30 January 2026
Parliament Takes Note of SNB Line on UBS Capital
Central bankers published a number. Deputies published caution.
Thursday, 29 January 2026
SNB Says UBS Can Meet Government Capital Demands
The central bank sided with the government's arithmetic. The largest bank kept its own calculator.
Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Ticino Subsidy Office Sees Longer Waits After the Premium Jump
The steepest cantonal rise in the 2026 tables landed in a region that already spends a large share of income on basic cover.
Saturday, 24 January 2026
Davos Reclaims the Promenade After the Forum Convoy Leaves
The first Saturday after the Forum is when the town remembers it is also a ski resort.
Thursday, 22 January 2026
UBS Capital Arguments Travel to Davos Without a Number Attached
The largest Swiss bank and its regulator do not need a panel discussion to find each other in a small town.
Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Machinery Exporters Watch a Firm Franc Into the Davos Week
Order books are written in euros. Costs are paid in francs. That gap is not a Davos talking point by accident.
Thursday, 8 January 2026
Graubuenden Hotels Report a Solid First Winter Week
Snow on the pistes and a blocked-out Davos week gave the canton the January it budgets for.
Monday, 5 January 2026
January Bills Arrive as Health Premiums Rise 4.4 Percent
The first Friday of the year brought the increase that insurers mailed in October: another 4.4 percent on the average basic premium.
Monday, 29 December 2025
Between-Years Week Fills Alpine Beds as Plateau Offices Stay Shut
The working year is over. The ski year is not. That overlap is the most profitable week some houses will see.
Wednesday, 24 December 2025
Village Churches Fill on Christmas Eve as Cities Go Quiet Early
The country still divides on the 24th: a city that closes at 16:00 and a village that opens at 23:00.
Monday, 22 December 2025
SBB Adds Christmas Carriages and Warns About the 24 December Peak
If you need to be in Ticino on the 24th, the reservation is the present that matters.
Friday, 19 December 2025
Winter Session Rises With a Budget Done and Health Still Untidy
Christmas is the whip that works. It does not make a health compromise appear in a week.
Saturday, 13 December 2025
Geneva Marks Escalade Weekend With Chocolate Pots and a March
A night attack that failed in 1602 still works as a weekend. The chocolate pots help.
Friday, 12 December 2025
Christmas Markets Fill Basel, Zurich and Montreux on Cold Nights
Mulled wine is not an economic indicator, but the queues are a kind of confidence survey.
Thursday, 11 December 2025
SNB Holds at Zero and Nudges the 2026 Growth View Lower
The rate did not move. The growth sentence got a little more cautious.
Monday, 8 December 2025
Zermatt Opens More High Pistes as the Matterhorn Watches a Thin Village
The mountain is white where it matters for skis. The village is not yet a brochure.
Sunday, 7 December 2025
Bern Advent Market Holds a Cold Sunday on the Waisenhausplatz
The capital's market is smaller than Basel's and closer to the people who write the budget.
Thursday, 4 December 2025
Winter Session Turns to the Budget After Sunday's Double No
Losing a vote on Sunday does not cancel a line in the budget. It only changes the tone of the speech before the line.
Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Davos Lifts Open a Cautious Winter After an Early Cold Snap
The season starts when the cable moves, not when the postcard turns white.
Monday, 1 December 2025
Winter Session Opens the Day After a Double No at the Ballot
Losing a vote on Sunday does not cancel the budget on Monday. It does change the speeches.
Sunday, 30 November 2025
Voters Reject Civic Duty and Climate Inheritance Tax
Two left-leaning ideas met a Sunday electorate that was not in the mood for new duties or a 50 percent tax on large estates.
Vote Sunday Opens Quietly With Two Left Texts on the Paper
The country voted on a new duty and a new tax. The queues suggested it had already voted by post.
Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Aargau Owners Spend the Last Midweek Making Succession Calls
The last instrument is not an ad. It is an uncle in another canton with a stamp.
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Postal Ballots Peak as November's Double Initiative Hits the Last Days
The envelopes do not leak. The campaigns, standing in the rain, pretend they might.
Monday, 24 November 2025
Basel Pharma Town Treats the Inheritance Tax as a Headquarters Risk
The cluster does not need a yacht argument. It has payrolls on both banks of the Rhine.
Saturday, 22 November 2025
Final Polls Show Two Clear Nos Taking Shape for 30 November
The remaining argument is turnout, not direction. Direction looks settled.
Thursday, 20 November 2025
Federal Council Repeats Its Double No as Vote Week Comes Into View
The government has one job left on these texts: say no again, without crowing.
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Geneva Remains a Yes Pocket for the Climate Tax, Not a Majority Engine
A yes on the Right Bank is real. It is also not 26 cantons.
Monday, 17 November 2025
St Gallen SMEs Form a Practical No Camp on the Inheritance Tax
The no camp in the east does not need a yacht. It needs a cousin who already sits in the firm.
Friday, 14 November 2025
Women Voters Split on Civic Duty as Equality Meets a New Obligation
A duty sold as fairness can sound like a new chore. That reading is spreading faster than the campaign like.
Tuesday, 11 November 2025
Climate Inheritance Tax Also Trails as Business Ads Land
A climate label does not rescue a tax that sounds like a raid on the shop.
Monday, 10 November 2025
First November Polls Show Civic Duty Trailing Heavily
An equality argument is not the same as a majority. The first poll made that rude and clear.
Friday, 7 November 2025
Family Firms Say a Climate Inheritance Tax Hits Factories, Not Yachts
The campaign needs a villain with a boat. The opposition needs a factory with a nameplate.
Thursday, 6 November 2025
Army Committees Split From Civic Groups on the Duty Initiative
Everyone is for service. Nobody means the same timetable, uniform or budget.
Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Young Socialists Take the Climate Inheritance Tax on a City Tour
The threshold is CHF 50 million. The argument is whether that number is a castle or a factory.
Monday, 3 November 2025
Civic Duty Posters Go Up and Immediately Meet the Army Argument
The poster shows a young woman with a toolkit. The reply shows a recruit with a rifle. Both are simplifications. Both will run until the 30th.
Sunday, 26 October 2025
Ticino Chestnut Fairs Fill Village Squares as the Lake Cools
The tourist summer has gone. The chestnut stall is how the canton keeps a Saturday.
Friday, 24 October 2025
Plateau Fog Slows the Morning Spine Between Olten and Zurich
The country's clock works until the weather sits on the plateau and refuses to move.
Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Farmers' Union Debates the EU Package and Stops Short of a Slogan
The meeting was billed as a decision. It ended as a postponement with better coffee.
Monday, 20 October 2025
Civic Duty Initiative Leaves the Petition Stage and Enters November
A text that wants everyone to serve must first persuade a country that likes the army it already has.
Saturday, 11 October 2025
Graubuenden Hunting Season Opens Under the Usual Path Closures
October in the Grisons has two calendars: the hikers' and the hunters'. They share a path only on paper.
Wednesday, 8 October 2025
Valais Harvest Fills the Rhone Slopes After a Nervous Spring Frost
April's candles are either a story or a hole. This week the presses will say which.
Monday, 6 October 2025
Alpine Communes Start Counting a New Second-Home Tax
Winning a vote is easy next to writing a tariff that a dentist from Basel will still pay.
Saturday, 4 October 2025
Autumn School Holidays Fill Trains Toward the Alps and Ticino
October holidays are Easter without the chocolate and with more fog.
Thursday, 2 October 2025
After the E-ID Yes, Bern Starts the Slow Work of Ordinances
Winning Sunday is the loud part. Writing the login is the long part.
Sunday, 28 September 2025
Narrow Yes for E-ID as Voters Also Back Second-Home Tax Reform
Digital identity scraped through. Mountain tax collectors had an easier night.
Friday, 26 September 2025
Autumn Session Rises So Deputies Can Go Home and Count
Parliament can adjourn. A campaign cannot. The building emptied into letterboxes.
Thursday, 25 September 2025
SNB Holds Policy Rate at Zero Ahead of the Ballot Weekend
No cut, no hike, and a reminder that zero is a decision, not a pause button.
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Postal Ballots Dominate as September's Double Vote Hits the Last Week
The democratic event is increasingly a kitchen table, a stamp and a Monday collection.
Monday, 22 September 2025
Late Polls Keep E-ID Inside a Point Either Way
A point either way is not a lead. It is an instruction to wait for Zurich.
Friday, 19 September 2025
Lavaux Harvest Starts Early After a Warm Late Summer
The grapes were ready before some of the seasonal workers were. That is an early vintage in one sentence.
Thursday, 18 September 2025
Engadine Chalet Owners Hold a Quiet Meeting Before the Ballot
The people who sleep here in February vote somewhere else in September.
Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Valais Mayors Split on How Hard to Cheer a Second-Home Tax
They want the door opened. They do not want to be photographed kicking it.
Monday, 15 September 2025
SBB to Replace Gotthard Base Tunnel Tracks Earlier Than Planned
The world's longest railway tunnel is wearing out on a faster clock than the brochure.
Friday, 12 September 2025
E-ID Campaign Enters Its Final Stretch Before 28 September
Switzerland is voting again on a digital identity, and neither side trusts the other's adjectives.
Thursday, 11 September 2025
E-ID Hearing in Bern Becomes an Argument About Contractors
The law names a state. The architecture names companies. Voters hear both and trust neither.
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Session Returns to Premiums That Households Already Paid
The 2025 premiums are history in the kitchen. In the chamber they are still a live file.
Monday, 8 September 2025
Autumn Session Opens as Two Campaigns Enter Their Final Weeks
The sitting has a timetable. The country has a Sunday. Deputies have to live in both.
Friday, 5 September 2025
Second-Home Tax Leads in Polls as Owners Start Counting
The plateau is ready to tax a bed it does not sleep in. The valleys want the money and the guests.
Thursday, 4 September 2025
Early September Polls Put E-ID on a Knife Edge
A federal act needs a popular majority, not a cantonal one. The map still looked unfriendly.
Friday, 29 August 2025
SBB Warns of Autumn Closures on Romandie Lines
The autumn timetable comes with a footnote: bring a jacket, and maybe a bus ticket.
Monday, 25 August 2025
Privacy Ads on E-ID Lean on Covid-Era Mistrust of State Logins
The ad does not explain the architecture. It reminds people of a QR code they did not like.
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Gotthard Freight Shares August With Tourist Paths and Hot Rails
The tunnel does not take a holiday. The people on the passenger trains do.
Monday, 18 August 2025
Farmers Circle the EU Food-Safety Chapter Without a Formal No
The fear is inspectors from Brussels. The fact is that audits already arrive from further away.
Thursday, 14 August 2025
Second-Home Tax Posters Go Up in the Engadine Before the Tourists Leave
August is when the owners are in residence. The campaign went where the doorbells are.
Tuesday, 12 August 2025
E-ID Campaign Starts in Earnest With Trust as the Real Clause
The technical annex is long. The poster has room for one fear.
Sunday, 10 August 2025
Basel Rhine Swim Fills the River With Wickelfisch and a Current
The city treats the river as a street with a current. On this Sunday it is also a queue.
Wednesday, 6 August 2025
Ticino August Nights Stay Hot and Hotel Beds Stay Full
The southern canton sells shade, water and a language the plateau uses on holiday.
Friday, 1 August 2025
Switzerland Marks 1 August With Bonfires and a Full Lake Calendar
The country paused, ate, and set fire to carefully stacked wood. Tomorrow the trains run on a Saturday timetable that feels like work.
Thursday, 31 July 2025
National Day Eve: Bonfires, Speeches and a Quiet Argument About Neutrality
The fireworks are the easy part. The speech after the brass band is where the country argues with itself.
Monday, 28 July 2025
Communes Rehearse 1 August Bonfires Under a Dry-Weather Watch
The wood is stacked. The permission is a weather sentence that can still change.
Thursday, 24 July 2025
SBB Tourist Peak Fills Panorama Trains and the InterCity Spine
The visitors discovered Switzerland. Then they discovered the reservation screen.
Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Glacier Monitoring Teams Report Another Harsh Summer on the Ice
The measuring rods are honest even when the postcards are not.
Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Valais Fire Services Drill Forest Response After a Dry Fortnight
The exercise was scheduled. The attention was not. Blatten made people show up.
Saturday, 12 July 2025
Montreux Quays Hit Capacity Mid-Festival as Late Trains Fill
The music ends. The timetable does not always have a seat left for the people it ends on.
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Oberland July Beds Fill With Heat Refugees From the Plateau
When the plateau cannot sleep, the Oberland sells altitude. This week it sold a lot of it.
Friday, 4 July 2025
Montreux Jazz Opens Its Last Full Summer on the Lake Stage
The lake is the hall this year, and next year it will not be. Opening night treated that fact as a programme note, not a eulogy.
Wednesday, 2 July 2025
Plateau Heat Arrives and Cities Open Cooling Rooms
The first real heat of the summer was not a record. It was enough to change the municipal checklist.
Friday, 27 June 2025
Lausanne Metro Summer Works Put Buses on a Hill That Prefers Rails
A city built on a slope is unforgiving when the metro pauses. The buses will prove it.
Thursday, 26 June 2025
UBS Intensifies Summer Lobbying Against Full Foreign-Unit Backing
The slogan in Bern is never again. The slogan in the bank is not like this.
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Ticino Heat Arrives Early and Fills the Lakeside Path
The southern canton does not wait for the official summer. It just gets hot.
Thursday, 19 June 2025
Art Basel Opens to the Public as the City Runs on Two Clocks
The doors that matter to the public opened at 11. The deals that matter to the booths had a two-day head start.
SNB Cuts Policy Rate to Zero and Keeps the FX Door Open
Zero is not a slogan at the SNB. It is a number, and it arrived with a familiar warning about the franc.
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Art Basel Preview Days Fill Messe and the Hotels Between
The fair has not opened to ticket holders. The city has already opened its prices.
Monday, 16 June 2025
Engadine Clerks Brief Councils on a Second-Home Tax Still in Mid-Air
You cannot write a tariff for a law the country has not yet accepted. You can draw the columns.
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
E-ID Opponents Table Their September Arguments in June
The law is already written. The adjectives for September were being tested in a room without voters.
Thursday, 5 June 2025
Summer Session Farm Debate Leaves Direct Payments Mostly Intact
Nobody went home with more money. Several went home with the same money, which was the point.
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
Summer Session Corridors Fill With EU Package Whispers
The order paper listed farm and transport. The whispers listed Brussels.
Monday, 2 June 2025
Summer Session Starts Under Heat and a Long Ballot Calendar
The session is three weeks. The campaign for September had already begun in the corridors.
Friday, 30 May 2025
Loetschental Aid Effort Takes Shape as Blatten Families Wait in Wiler
The first need is a bed that is not a gym mat. The second is a sentence about going home that nobody will yet write.
Thursday, 29 May 2025
Lonza Backs Up Behind the Debris as Blatten Becomes a Lake Shore
The mountain had already taken the houses. The river started to take the map.
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Blatten Buried as Birch Glacier Collapse Sends Rock Into the Lonza
The village was emptied in time. The houses were not.
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Birch Glacier Accelerates as Blatten Stays Empty
The village was already gone. The ice started to run.
Friday, 23 May 2025
Health Cost File Sits in Recess While Premiums Keep Arriving
The sitting ended in March. The invoices did not. Recess is a parliamentary word, not a household one.
Monday, 19 May 2025
Blatten Evacuation Widens as the Slope Above the Village Keeps Moving
The village was told to go. The mountain was not asked.
Sunday, 18 May 2025
Rockfall Above Blatten Pushes First Residents Out of the Village
The noise came off the mountain before the order came off the printer.
Friday, 16 May 2025
Valais Issues Fresh Slope Warnings After Rockfalls Above the Loetschental
The warnings came as gravel, then as maps. People in the valley have learned to read both.
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Milk Producers Say May Prices Still Lag Feed and Labour
The litre in the shop has a story. The litre at the farm gate has a shorter, greyer one.
Monday, 12 May 2025
SBB Tweaks Spring Diagram After Easter Overcrowding Complaints
The complaint box after Easter had a theme: standing in a corridor with a suitcase.
Tuesday, 6 May 2025
Aargau Metal Wage Talks Stick on Inflation That Has Already Fallen
Inflation is lower. The household invoice is not. That mismatch is the bargaining table.
Thursday, 1 May 2025
Geneva Labour Day Column Puts Rents Ahead of Pay Claims
The banners still said wages. On the Right Bank the speeches kept returning to the lease.
Labour Day Marches Focus on Rents as Much as Pay
The banners still said wages. The speeches kept returning to the lease.
Thursday, 24 April 2025
Valais Growers Light Frost Candles on the Lower Rhone Slopes
The candles are a picture. The loss, if it comes, is a vintage.
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
SBB Counts the School-Holiday Return as Easter Traffic Fades
The holiday is over when the luggage racks fill in the other direction.
Monday, 21 April 2025
Easter Monday Crowds Take the Lakes Before the Water Is Warm
The lakes look like summer from a tram. They do not feel like summer from a jetty.
Friday, 18 April 2025
Gotthard Road Tunnel Fills on Easter Friday as Trains Take the Rest
If you had a rail reservation, you had a plan. If you had a car and a Friday slot, you had a queue.
Thursday, 17 April 2025
Easter Trains Fill as SBB Warns of Alpine Road Queues
If you had a seat reservation, you had a plan. If you had a car and a Gotthard slot, you had a hope.
Friday, 11 April 2025
Thurgau Asparagus Season Opens After a Cool Start
The first spears are a calendar, not a glut. Thurgau treats them as both.
Thursday, 3 April 2025
Easter Snow Line Sits High in the Oberland
School holiday planners wanted white villages. They will get white high runs and brown meadows.
Friday, 28 March 2025
Ticino Debates Permit Pace as Italian Commuters Fill Morning Trains
The southern labour market is a timetable: Italian papers in the morning, Swiss shifts by eight.
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Gotthard Base Tunnel Freight Holds Up as Road Queues Return
The long tunnel still does what the brochure promised for trains. Cars will have their own argument at Easter.
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Spring Motions Keep the Nuclear Ban on the Desk Without Lifting It
Nobody voted to pour concrete. Plenty of people voted to keep talking about pouring it.
Friday, 21 March 2025
Geneva Vacancy Stays Near the Floor as Spring Leases Open
Spring moving day is a tradition. In Geneva it is also a rumour of a key.
Thursday, 20 March 2025
SNB Cuts Policy Rate to 0.25 Percent as Inflation Cools
Low inflation and a firm franc produced another cut. Mortgage desks will notice more than tourists will.
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
UBS Capital Talks Move From Slogan to Spreadsheet
The political sentence is simple: never again. The accounting sentence is not.
Monday, 17 March 2025
Parliament Starts the Argument Over FINMA's Next Set of Teeth
The political sentence is that the watchdog must be stronger. The unkind sentence is that it was not brave.
Tuesday, 11 March 2025
National Council Argues Over Who Pays Rising Premium Subsidies
The premiums went out in January. The fight in March is about who covers the households that cannot.
Thursday, 6 March 2025
Farm Hearings in Bern Repeat the Direct-Payment Stalemate
The hearing had new slides. The sentences were last year's, spoken a little faster.
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Vaud Hospitals Report Longer Waits for Planned Operations
The buildings are there. The anaesthetists are not always. That is the waiting list in one sentence.
Monday, 3 March 2025
Spring Session Opens With Budget Leftovers and Health Costs
Deputies came back to files that do not wait for a new year: premiums, farmers and the large bank in Zurich.
Saturday, 1 March 2025
Parties Arrive Early for a Spring Session Built on Premiums
Deputies came back to Bern two days early to argue about invoices voters already paid in January.
Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Graubuenden Communes Sketch a Second-Home Tax They Do Not Yet Have
The legal tool is still a September question. The village arithmetic is already a Tuesday meeting.
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Basel-Stadt Budget Debate Turns on Pharma Tax and Trams
The smallest canton lives on large invoices. The budget debate is about how visibly to admit that.
Friday, 14 February 2025
Valais Resorts Call Mid-February Snow Adequate, Not Generous
The high glaciers did their job. The village postcards still needed a careful crop.
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Basel Cortege Rolls After Two Nights of Piccolo and Snow
The morning after Morgenstreich is not a rest day. It is a parade with sore feet and better light.
Monday, 10 February 2025
Business Groups Treat Environmental No as a Closed File
The no was wide enough that trade associations spent Monday talking about orders, not about a recount.
Basel Fasnacht Starts at 4 a.m. With Morgenstreich
At four in the morning the drums took over a city that had spent Sunday counting ballot papers.
Sunday, 9 February 2025
Voters Reject Environmental Responsibility Initiative by a Wide Margin
Swiss voters said no, in every canton, to a Green-backed text that would have rewritten economic policy around ecological limits.
Polling Stations Open on a Quiet Vote Sunday Before Fasnacht
The country voted on planetary limits while half of Basel was saving its energy for 4 a.m.
Saturday, 8 February 2025
Campaigns Fall Silent as Environmental Ballot Papers Sit in Kitchens
By Saturday afternoon the arguments were leftovers. The envelopes on the table would do the deciding.
Friday, 7 February 2025
Basel Hotels Fill for Fasnacht as Vote Sunday Cuts Some Trains
The city can host a carnival and a federal ballot in the same weekend. It cannot put both on the same tram.
Wednesday, 5 February 2025
Lucerne Fasnacht Fills the Quays Before Basel's Morgenstreich
Brass and drums took the Seebrücke while Basel was still counting the sleeps until 4 a.m. Monday.
Monday, 3 February 2025
Final Polls Put Environmental Initiative Well Behind
A week out, the Green-backed text was losing in every language region. Campaigners on the yes side talked about late mail ballots anyway.
Friday, 31 January 2025
Farmers Watch Winter Direct Payments as Feed Costs Stay High
The federal payment landed. So did the bill for feed. The gap between those two numbers is the winter.
Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Ticino Fog and a Slow Gotthard Start the Working Week
The southern canton began a grey week with the usual two bottlenecks: weather on the plain and traffic in the tunnel.
Monday, 27 January 2025
SBB January Punctuality Holds, German Arrivals Do Not
Swiss clocks still work. The problem is the trains that arrive from the north already late.
Friday, 24 January 2025
Aargau Machine Shops Report a Thin January Order Book
The canton that ships metal into Germany started the year counting unfilled hours, not overtime.
Monday, 13 January 2025
Cornavin and the Border Feel the January Return of Frontaliers
The first full week of work brought back the queues that tourism brochures never photograph.
Thursday, 9 January 2025
SNB Watches a Firm Franc After December's Rate Cut
A half-percent policy rate and a firm franc set the tone for the first weeks of the year.
Wednesday, 8 January 2025
Midwinter Beds Fill in the Oberland After a Slow Start
A late rush of German and Dutch bookings eased a nervous start to the ski weeks.
Friday, 3 January 2025
New KVG Premiums Land in January Invoices
The first invoices of 2025 carry the 6 percent average rise that Bern announced last autumn.