Swiss Review 3/2021

Swiss Review / June 2021 / No.3 29 Federal votes The Federal Council determines voting proposals at least four months before the voting date. Everything you need to know about voting proposals (voting pamphlets, com- mittees, recommendations by Parliament and the Federal Council etc.) is available at www.admin.ch/votes o r via the Federal Chancellery’s VoteInfo app. The Federal Council decided that there will be five federal proposals submitted to the people on 13 June 2021: ■ ■ Federal Popular Initiative of 18 January 2018 ‘For clean drinking water and healthy food – No subsidies for pesti- cides and the prophylactic use of anti- biotics’; ■ ■ Federal Popular Initiative of 25 May 2018 ‘For a Switzerland with no syn- thetic pesticides’; ■ ■ Federal Act of 25 September 2020 on the Legal Framework for Federal Council Ordinances to overcome the COVID-19 Epidemic (COVID-19 Act); ■ ■ Federal Act of 25 September 2020 on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (CO 2 Act); ■ ■ Federal Act of 25 September 2020 on Police CounterterrorismMeasures (PCTA). Popular initiatives The following federal popular initiatives had alreadybeen launched at the time of go- ing to press (deadline for the collection of signatures in brackets): ■ ■ Federal Popular Initiative “For indivi- dual taxation regardless of civil status (Fair taxation initiative)” (09.09.2022) ■ ■ Federal Popular Initiative “For safer vehicles” (16.09.2022) The list of pending popular initiatives is available in Ger- man, French and Italian at www.bk.admin.ch > Politische Rechte > Volksinitiativen > Hängige Volksinitiativen Swiss community. All six countries around our region – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Gua- temala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – face similar challenges. Take passport applications, for example, for which there is no online facility. In this difficult year, our mobile passport offices (excluding consular services) will therefore again be touring neighbouring countries. This has proved a very popular, successful initiative to date. Ultimately, we are focusing on elderly members of society who have been par- ticularly affected by the pandemic. Em- bassy staff will travel to remote regions to listen to the concerns of our retirees and answer their questions. This will not only lend our services a human face, but help us better understand the needs of older Swiss Abroad. SWISS EMBASSY IN SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA Ottawa / Canada A simultaneous live stream from three different regions of our vast country The Covid-19 pandemic has severely re- stricted our freedom of movement. But it has widened our horizons too. Given the global dimensions of the crisis, this means thinking outside the box to come up with good ideas that will enhance consular ser- vices. The “communitymeetings” hostedby the Swiss embassy in Thailand (see article on the left)were an inspiration for us inCan- ada to do something similar. However, we had to tailor our own virtual town hall meetings toCanadian specificities, because the sheer size of our country, alongwith its federal structure, have resulted in each province implementing different Covid guidelines. In addition to the embassy in Ottawa, Swit- zerland has general consulates in Montreal and Vancouver. These are the points of con- tact for the 40,000 Swiss registered as living in Canada. It was therefore important to in- volve and connect with all three Swiss rep- resentations, so that we could include input from different regions and take account of both of Canada’s national languages, English and French. The town hall meeting therefore took the formof a Zoomcall on Facebook Live, which was simulcast via the three Facebook pages of theOttawa, Vancouver andMontreal representations. Interest in the event was considerable, with some 500 viewers tuning in. People asked a varied range of questions and gave positive feedback. This reinforces our intention to continue harnessing the po- tential of digital formats in ourwork after the pandemic. SWISS EMBASSY IN OTTAWA , CANADA Simultaneously connected – Ottawa, Montreal and Van- couver all attended the town hall meeting Photo: screenshot Responsible for the FDFA official communications: Consular Directorate Innovation and Partnerships Effingerstrasse 27, 3003 Berne, Switzerland www.eda.admin.ch, email: kdip@eda.admin.ch