Plant-based or meat – Switzerland rethinks its eating habits Agnes Hirschi escaped the Holocaust as a child – and now tells school children about it Switzerland set to finally deliver on a long-standing climate pledge MAY 2023 The magazine for the Swiss Abroad
Solidarity, equality, freedom, cosmopolitanism. Our values are based on one principle ‒ equal rights for everyone, no privileges. As social democrats, our self-image is European, internationalist. This is why we have always been committed, through our beliefs, to good and solid relations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU). There is a need for institutional solutions. As social democrats, we are on the side of peace, social justice, human rights and climate protection all around the world. Only together will we master the major challenges confronting us today. In solidarity, Sarah Wyss (Member of the National Council BS) and Fabian Molina (Member of the National Council ZH) Vice Presidents SP International www.sp-ps.ch/partei/sp-international There is a new social democratic portal aimed at the Swiss Abroad, containing inside news on Swiss politics. DIREKT-MAGAZIN.CH VOTE SP 22 OCTOBER! zkb.ch/swiss-abroad We know needs can vary – which is why we treat all Swiss nationals living abroad as unique individuals. We offer you professional, personalised support that is subject to the highest quality standards.
Food can change the world and wow the senses. You may say I am a dreamer, but it’s true. What we cook and eat can have a direct bearing on some serious issues. One of these is food waste. Another is the question of how we can reduce our oversized environmental footprint. You see, food is also a question of sustainability. Which brings us to the theme of this edition’s Focus article: the faint whiff of revolution on Swiss dinner tables. Most of us eat enough – and many of us like to eat well. But how can we eat well without endangering the future of the planet at the same time? Switzerland has responded with some innovative answers. This is where I was going to suggest a few interesting recipes to change the world myself. However, an item of breaking news on the day of our editorial deadline ruined everyone’s appetite. Big bank Credit Suisse (CS) pretty much collapsed like a house of cards overnight. Its demise is unsettling. Founded originally as Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKB) in 1856, no other bank played such a key role in Switzerland’s industrial development. The Switzerland that we know today bears testimony to SKB’s scale of ambition back then. Gone are those pioneering days. Bad debts, unsustainable risk, wrong decisions, squandered trust, misconduct on the part of individual employees, and managers paying themselves exorbitant bonuses were a combination that proved too toxic. The damage is immense. And the country as a whole is in this mess together. The federal government and the Swiss National Bank have had to provide UBS with billions of Swiss francs in loans and guarantees to underpin UBS’s forced takeover of Credit Suisse. And if Credit Suisse was in many ways the prime example of a bank being “too big to fail” due to the inherent interdependencies of the financial system, just think of how enormous UBS has now become. As the banks’ fellow Zurich residents the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” put it on the day after the takeover: “Switzerland got rid of a zombie but woke up to a monster on Monday.” The UBS balance sheet is now almost twice as big as Switzerland’s annual economic output. That is a lot to digest. MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 4 Focus Switzerland is rethinking its eating habits 9 News New e-voting pilots give hope to the “Fifth Switzerland” 10 Politics Switzerland’s long-standing climate promise to be put to the vote 12 Federal elections 2023 Guidance to help voters make sense of their options 14 Report Chocolate bunnies in demand, real bunnies in danger News from your region 18 Nature and the environment Electric cars are booming in Switzerland 22 Society Agnes Hirschi and her Holocaust rescuer 26 Notes from the Federal Palace Five Swiss lifelines for the Swiss Abroad 28 SwissCommunity news St Gallen, venue of this year’s Congress, is always worth a visit The “Fifth Switzerland” presents its election manifesto 30 Discussion Bon appétit Cover photo: By Max Spring, our Berne-based cartoonist. www.maxspring.ch “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad. Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 3 Editorial Contents
Salmon with cream cheese on a toasted baguette? No, the “salmon” is a vegan imitation made of carrot, while the “cream cheese” is made from almonds. Photo: Keystone The whiff of revolution from the dinner table Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 4 Focus
5 DENISE LACHAT Luc has prepared a fruit skewer for his mid-morning snack, along with some vegetable dips followed by pasta salad with cherry tomatoes and Halloumi for the main course and a layered glass of quark, yoghurt, berries, and crumble for dessert. The nineyear-old is attending a cookery course. Accompanying the boy is his father, who confesses he would have made something different. “But he enjoys it, that’s the main thing.” Luc’s primary school in Berne arranged the tuition. The idea is that children who dabble in cooking eat a more diverse, balanced diet and are more receptive to new foods. Studying the production process at Kempthal-based Planted Foods AG also feels like a classroom lesson, albeit the subject matter is related more to physics and chemistry. You start with a flour mixture. This can be made from peas, sunflower seeds, or oats. This is fed into a big machine, where it is mixed with water and rapeseed oil, then kneaded, heated, and pressed. You end up with a dough that can be cut in different ways depending on whether you want it to resemble chicken breast, chicken strips, or kebab. Clad in white smocks and sanitary hats, employees at the laboratory-like company factory in the Zurich Oberland are producing plantbased imitation meat. The Planted Foods mantra is clear: “Every chicken counts.” No animals are killed in the making of these products. The firm says that over a million chickens (and counting) have been saved from slaughter thanks to the consumption of its products. According to Planted Foods, global warming is another issue. Tradider cuts and adding micronutrients like vitamin B12? Planted Foods has an oven-ready answer for these and other FAQs: “We humans are creatures of habit, as we all know. To have an impact on the planet, our eating habits need to change. The best way to do this is with a meat-like product that can be integrated into our eating habits.” Meat alternatives from the supermarket giants Meat analogues, i.e. plant-based products that mimic meat, seem to satisfy a consumer need. As far back as 1997, Migros began selling products made from Quorn, which is derived from a fermented, edible fungus. Its Cornatur brand was pioneering at the time. Meat substitutes have become increasingly popular of late, and we are seeing greater innovation, says Migros spokeswoman Carmen Hefti. Migros now has over 1,000 different vegan items in its range, of which meat and milk substitutes are the most popular, according to Hefti. Erstwhile niche products such as these have entered the mainstream. Coop has had a wide range of meat substitutes on its shelves – including own-brand Délicorn – since 2006. Bratwurst and schnitzel were among its first plant-based products. The supermarket currently offers over 2,000 vegetarian products, of which more than 1,800 are vegan, says Coop spokesman Caspar Frey. The retailer stocks over 100 vegan meat and fish alternatives, more than 50 milk alternatives, 40 vegan yoghurts, 20 vegan butters, and some 20 vegan cheese alternatives. Vegan With climate considerations in mind, the Swiss are rethinking their shopping and eating habits, as plant-based protein becomes more mainstream. However, it is fair to say that Switzerland remains a nation of meat eaters. tional animal meat production is one of the largest instigators of the climate crisis, it writes. Looks like meat, tastes like meat Plant-based means more vegetables and cereals – and less meat. But why make imitation meat in the first place? Why invest so much technology into pulling globular plant-based proteins together to look like sinuous muscle fibres? Why ferment these proteins with microbes such as fungi and bacteria? And why go through the complex process of producing bigger, juicier, more complex and more tenFocusing on future-proof solutions The world’s population will be just under ten billion by 2050. If so many are to be fed without endangering the planet, food production as well as eating habits must radically change. This means less meat, sugar, and fewer eggs – and more vegetables, nuts, and legumes. In addition to the public sector, numerous NGOs in Switzerland are working to achieve this goal. One of them is the "Fourchette verte – ama terra" quality and health label for canteens, which applies to 17 cantons and aims to reduce meat and fish consumption, promote environmentally and animal-friendly food production, and minimise food waste. Tools such as Eaternity, which calculates the carbon footprint of canteen menu options, or Beelong, which scores foods on a scale from A to G, also help to improve sustainability for food caterers in care homes, hospitals, preschools, and companies. (DLA) Good examples of ways for municipalities and cantons to promote sustainable nutrition (document available in French, German and Italian): revue.link/menu Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3
less of a means to an end and more as a lifestyle choice to promote health and enjoyment, and preserve natural resources. “Many people are becoming more aware of the impact of our consumer and eating habits on the environment, climate, and animal welfare,” it said in the 2019 Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute European Food Trends Report, for which 39 experts from Europe, North America, and Asia were interviewed. According to the Coop study, environmental concerns are now put forward as the main argument for eating less meat in Switzerland. This applies to all diets, from flexitarian to vegan. And the younger you are, the more likely this is to be the case. A nation of meat eaters Despite remarkable growth, meat substitutes are still very much a niche area. According to the latest figures from the Swiss meat industry association Proviande, they accounted for a market share of no more than 3.4 per cent in 2021. In point of fact, there has been no decrease in Swiss meat consumption. Since the mid1990s, the average Swiss resident has carried on consuming around 50 kg of meat per year. They ate 50.91 kg in 2020 and 51.82 kg in 2021. Overall, beef consumption is down and chicken consumption up. Retailer Coop also says that the demand for meat remains high – even in January, or “Veganuary”. According to Coop spokesman Frey, meat substitutes appeal to vegetarians, vegans, flexitarians, those who also like to eat plant-based alternatives, and those who are interested in food trends or in a varied diet. There is no one-to-one inverse correlation between sales of meat and of meat substitutes. Such products mainly attract people who do not eat meat, says Promilk alternatives are also finding favour among Migros customers, who have been able to buy soya drinks since 2010 and now have oat, rice, almond, soya, quinoa, chickpea, coconut and hazelnut beverages to choose from. In recent years, Migros has seen double-digit growth in nondairy alternatives, says Hefti, without specifying precise sales figures. Coop also prefers to communicate in percentages. It says that vegan milk alternatives have gained market share over the last four years and now account for 18 per cent of total milk sales. Frey: “At present, more than one in seven milk products at Coop are vegan.” For the sake of the planet Are animal-based foods becoming less attractive to Swiss consumers? Are we all eating fruit and veg, and more specifically plant-based proteins, instead? Yes and no. According to the Plant-based Food Report published by Coop in January this year, 63 per cent of the Swiss population consciously choose to have a day without eating animal-based foods more than once a month. This is over 20 per cent more than ten years ago. Meanwhile, the first-ever Swiss Meat Substitutes Report by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG), covering the Swiss retail sector from 2016 to 2020, says that sales of meat substitutes have risen sharply: from 60 million Swiss francs in 2016 to 117 million in 2020. They have almost doubled in four years, increasing by an average of 18.4 per cent each year. The biggest growth is in meat analogues, says the report. A shift in attitudes is cited as the factor driving the change in consumer habits, with people in the industrialised West viewing food and drink as Two popular initiatives on food production Will food production soon be on the political agenda? Two popular initiatives are calling for more home-grown food produce in Switzerland, but advocate two diametrically opposing agricultural policy approaches. One wants Swiss farmers to produce less feed for animals and grow more plant-based foods for people. The other initiative wants to reduce biodiversity areas to ramp up intensive food and fodder production. (DLA) Plant-based chicken made from pea protein – one of a new and increasingly popular range of meat substitutes. Photo: Planted Foods Plant-based alternatives to milk are a firm fixture on Swiss supermarket shelves these days. Photo: Keystone Feeding our insatiable appetite for chicken – a poultry farm with 18,000 birds in Gundetswil (canton of Zurich). Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 6 Focus
teen meals eaten in French-speaking Switzerland, where Eldora has its roots. Demand is slightly higher in German-speaking Switzerland. It is primarily the public sector pushing for meat-free options. A vegetarian meal must be served at least once a week at schools and preschools. There is also a growing clamour for regional produce – although guests are reluctant to pay more for the privilege, unfortunately, says Gordon. “This squeezes our margins.” Humans viande spokeswoman Gioia Porlezza. On the other hand, meat substitutes and meat are not mutually exclusive. “You can easily consume both to diversify your protein.” In any case, there are considerable synergies between “natural” foods and sustainable high-tech foods. Experts concede that science is playing an increasing role in food production. Sustainable nutrition The federal government formulates strategies and legislation to promote sustainable nutrition. More and more cities and municipalities have taken the lead and put sustainable food on the menu at schools, care homes, and public institutions (see box). Even cooking lessons at primary schools have changed; the beloved home economics textbook “Tiptopf” has been completely revised. Half of the recipes in the March 2023 edition are new. They include lentil bolognese and tofu stew. “The book contains more vegetarian and vegan recipes than earlier editions,” says Anita Stettler, marketing project manager at Schulverlag plus AG. “In partnership with the vegetarian restaurant Hiltl, we also created a supplementary cookbook called Greentopf in 2019, focusing purely on vegetarian and vegan cuisine.” A clear trend Has a culinary revolution begun? We are at least seeing a discernible trend, according to Andrew Gordon, CEO of Eldora AG – a business that manages and supplies canteens in companies as well as at schools, preschools, hospitals, and care homes. Eldora now offers a daily vegetarian option on its menus, says Gordon. This option accounts for about ten per cent of canare contradictory creatures, he sighs. As the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute says in its study, “We Swiss want the best of both worlds: global and local.” Coop “Plant-based Food Report” (in German): revue.link/plantbased Swiss Meat Substitutes Report from the FOAG: revue.link/substitutes European Food Trends Report from the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute: revue.link/foodtrends Proviande meat market figures (only in French and German): revue.link/fleisch In Switzerland, food sharing plays an increasingly important role in helping to reduce food waste. Photo: Keystone Canteens have a big influence on what people eat, because they can encourage – or discourage – new food trends. Photo: Shutterstock Butchering a calf at Angst AG in Zurich. Despite the advent of substitute foods, meat consumption in Switzerland remains high. Photo: Keystone The new type of Swiss shopping receipt Nuggets, Délicorn, Coop Quorn vegan nuggets Planted Güggeli, Planted Foods Chicken alternative made from pea protein Wood Smoked Rüebli Lax, Mr Vegan Salmon alternative made from carrots vEGGie, Garden Gourmet, Nestlé Vegan egg substitute made from soya protein Mandel Vegurt Mokka, Migros Vegan almond-mocha butter yoghurt MozzaVella Bio, Züger Vegan mozzarella made from almonds and oats Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 7
UBS acquires Credit Suisse; the federal government and the SNB plough billions into the deal Big bank Credit Suisse (CS) is no more after being taken over by its rival UBS – the outcome of a highly volatile week in March for the Swiss banking sector. The merger almost feels like a shotgun wedding. According to the UBS board, it was necessary to stave off disaster for the Swiss banking sector and the Swiss economy. Faith in CS had collapsed over a dramatic few days at the beginning of March, as customers and investors started withdrawing billions of Swiss francs from the bank. In addition to homemade problems, the plight of certain US banks further drained confidence. On 16 March, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) granted CS an emergency loan of 50 billion Swiss francs. The intervention was of little use, with the Federal Council and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) eventually forcing CS and UBS executives to the negotiating table on 19 March. By that Sunday evening, UBS had acquired CS for the sum of three billion francs. Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter has sold the takeover as a private-sector deal for the greater good. Nevertheless, it is another government bailout in all but name, albeit with the indirect involvement of another bank. The government and the SNB have pledged as much as 250 billion francs to backstop the sale, while the government has invoked emergency legislation to provide a further 9 billion in loss guarantees. CS’s demise as an independent entity is a historic moment. Founded as Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKB) in 1856 by railway pioneer Alfred Escher, the bank played a key role in building up Switzerland’s modern infrastructure. (MUL) A call for greater urgency on climate change The world must act faster on climate change, according to the latest scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Presenting its findings in Interlaken (canton of Berne), the IPCC said that the risks posed by global warming are even greater than they were when the previous IPCC report was published nine years ago. Relatively small temperature rises can now lead to more extreme events like droughts and flooding. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C or well below 2°C is the goal, but more effort is needed from countries around the world – including Switzerland. More on pages 10 and 11. (TP) Marco Odermatt sets new points record In winning this year’s Men’s Overall World Cup, Swiss skier Marco Odermatt set a new record by becoming the first man to collect over 2,000 World Cup points in one season. Odermatt, 25, skied consistently well to break the previous points mark that had stood for over 20 years. He claimed 22 podium finishes in 26 races. (MUL) Emil Steinberger Emil Steinberger, known simply as “Emil”, celebrated his 90th birthday in January. The Lucerne native remains Switzerland’s most successful and best-loved comedian. Emil has been making most of the country laugh since the 1970s, his popular appeal spanning the demographic and political spectrum – a trick that would seem impossible these days. His stage and television performances, as well as a “sabbatical” year in the Knie circus ring, are ingrained in our collective memory. Many of us can still recite some of Emil’s famous sketches by heart – police headquarters, telegraph office, mountain guide, country sayings, or the father with the “Swedish model” pram. The comedian, who began working life as a postal worker, has always relied on minimal props, his facial expressions, gestures and words sufficient to leave his audience rolling in the aisles. Explaining Steinberger’s past success, which extends to Germany, the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” wrote: “Emil embodies something quintessentially Swiss. Not just a certain awkwardness, but also that small man on the street struggling to cope with the finer details of life. Although his humour is never mocking.” Steinberger’s role in “Die Schweizermacher”, the hit film parodying Switzerland’s tough naturalisation rules, is unforgettable too. At the age of 60, Emil left Switzerland to live in New York. He returned to Switzerland – and to the stage – in 1999. His most recent tour ended last December. Steinberger now resides in Basel. He opened an account on Twitter a couple of years ago and continues to be his happy-go-lucky, kind-spirited self. “Total strangers have told me how I have been an influence in their life,” he recently said in an interview. “Others say they mimic me when they are at home.” Emil never wanted this attention. “All I wanted was to perform and make people laugh.” SUSANNE WENGER Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 8 Top pick News
Finally – a fresh attempt at e-voting The cantons of Basel-Stadt, St Gallen and Thurgau are to launch new e-voting pilots in June. If these trials go well, the new system could be used in the national elections in autumn. EVELINE RUTZ The digital ballot box is set to make its Swiss comeback on 18 June, when the cantons of Basel-Stadt, St Gallen and Thurgau are to pilot e-voting, enabling up to 65,000 people to vote online – including Swiss Abroad. The Federal Council has given the three cantons the green light to conduct a limited trial. Grisons intends to start its own pilot in 2024. Shortcomings have been rectified The risks are at an acceptable level, Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr told the media in March. “E-voting systems incorporate effective anti-fraud mechanisms. Any attempts to hack them can be detected with a high degree of certainty.” Swiss Post now meets the high security standards necessary for online voting, having made significant improvements since 2019, when e-voting was discontinued (see “Swiss Review”, April 2021 and August 2022). Since 2021, hackers around the world have been invited to put the solution through its paces. The Swiss Post system is continually monitored by independent experts and is fully verifiable. This means that anyone who votes online can check whether their vote has been registered correctly. The pilot itself will help to improve e-voting, stressed Thurnherr. “Certain findings are only possible once you put a system into practice.” The cantons are delighted to be offering e-voting again on a trial basis. After over 300 successful tests, we are picking up where we left off in 2019, says Barbara Schüpbach-Guggenbühl, Chancellor of the canton of Basel-Stadt, adding that they are responding to a significant need among Swiss Abroad and among voters with physical and/or mental impairments. “A digital means of voting is vital for these people to be able to exercise their democratic rights effectively.” The pilots entail considerable preparation and costs for the cantons involved. But Schüpbach-Guggenbühl firmly believes the time and expense will pay off. Switzerland’s federal system must future-proof itself to maintain current levels of political participation. “Government stakeholders need to offer added value to ensure that people engage with democracy, now and in the future.” Postal delivery of security codes to continue Not all of the pilot will be digital in nature, because the selected participants will receive their individual security codes – together with the usual voting papers – by post. This is relevant to Swiss Abroad, who have to wait longer for their papers to arrive. But online voting foregoes the need to return everything by post, enabling expats to cast their vote in just a few clicks. The introduction of an e-ID scheme could simplify the process in future, with e-voting functioning seamlessly on a purely electronic basis without the need to use postal delivery at all. Swiss Post is responding to the digital revolution, says its spokeswoman Silvana Grellmann. “We want to bring the secrecy of correspondence into the virtual world.” Switzerland’s national postal service employs over 1,700 people in its IT department. At its Neuchâtel site, it has set up a cryptography hub currently comprising 47 staff. Grellmann: “Security is a never-ending process.” Swiss Post will continue to use the “collective intelligence of experts” to iron out glitches. It will also be transparent in reporting vulnerabilities, with the aim of building public trust in the e-voting system. If the 18 June pilots are successful, the cantons could offer e-voting in autumn’s federal elections. They would first have to submit an application to the federal government. The “Fifth Switzerland” wants to exercise its political rights This is positive news for the “Fifth Switzerland”, according to Ariane Rustichelli, Director of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). The Swiss are increasingly mobile, she says, with more expats – currently some 220,000 – listed in the voting register every year. People also tend to be staying abroad for shorter periods of time on average, so it is all the more important that Swiss Abroad are able to participate in the democratic process. “E-voting helps them to maintain the link with home.” Rustichelli hopes that the pilots are a success. “Then we can resume trials in other cantons.” The risks associated with the new e-voting system are at an acceptable level, says Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr. Any attempts to hack the system would, in all likelihood, be detected. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 9 Politics
THEODORA PETER December 2015 was a “historic step” – the moment when the international community agreed in Paris to work together to combat climate change and its devastating consequences. The aim was to limit global warming to well below 2°C. To achieve this ambitious goal, the world must substantially reduce environmentally harmful greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 within the next few decades. The euphoria of Paris has faded over the years. Many countries have fallen behind their emissions targets. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, Switzerland to deliver on a long-standing climate pledge – depending on what voters say More than seven years on from the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, the Federal Council and parliament have approved a climate bill. On 18 June, voters will decide whether the legislation comes into force. The SVP opposes the new law. and the energy crisis have shifted priorities. Political efforts to fight climate change have also stalled in Switzerland. Voters most recently rejected a beefed-up CO2 Act in 2021, which would have introduced a green levy on fossil fuels (see “Swiss Review” 4/2021). Carbon neutral by 2050 Heat waves and extreme weather continue to illustrate how urgently action needs to be taken. The sustained acceleration in the glacier melt rate has become the poster child of climate change in Switzerland. Researchers predict that most ice masses in the Alps will have been lost by the end of this century. But there is still time to curb global warming, say scientists. The Federal Council and parliament have now agreed on framework legislation that sets out the path to Switzerland reaching net zero by 2050. The bill calls for harmful greenhouse gas emissions to be cut in stages. Specific reduction targets will apply to industry, motorised traffic, and buildings. Massive investment in zero-carbon technology will be needed. To Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 10 Politics
Overview of all federal votes on 18 June 2023 Global minimum tax for multinationals As a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Switzerland has agreed to implement a global minimum tax on large businesses from 2024 onwards. A 15 per cent minimum levy will apply to multinationals that generate over 750 million Swiss francs in annual sales. Many major companies in Switzerland will consequently have to pay more, thereby creating additional revenue for the public purse. Support for this international mechanism is unanimous. However, there is disagreement over how to distribute the extra money. According to the allocation formula adopted by parliament, three quarters of the additional tax income will go to the cantons and only one quarter to the federal government. The SP recommends a No vote and wants more money to remain in the federal coffers. (TP) Legislation to combat climate change and invest in renewable energy Switzerland aims to become carbon-neutral by 2050. The Federal Act on Climate Protection Goals, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security (see article on the left) sets out the path to achieving this goal, and is an indirect counterproposal to the cross-party Glacier Initiative, which has now been withdrawn. The SVP opposes the new legislation. (TP) Covid-19 Act back under scrutiny Despite Covid restrictions having ended, parliament has extended the Covid-19 Act until the end of 2024 as a precautionary measure. This means that the legal basis for reactivating the Covid vaccine passport requirement – e.g. for travel to other countries – continues to apply for the time being. The Friends of the Constitution pressure group opposes the extension and has now initiated its third referendum on the law. (TP) this end, parliament has approved a stimulus programme worth 3.2 billion Swiss francs, of which 2 billion will go into replacing oil and gas heating over a ten-year period. A further 1.2 billion will be used to promote innovation. Pressure from the Glacier Initiative The draft law is a counterproposal to the so-called Glacier Initiative, which the cross-party Swiss Climate Protection Association launched at the beginning of 2019, collecting the necessary 100,000 signatures within just a short space of time. Faced with grassroots pressure, parliament decided to act. Its bill is acceptable to the climate activists, who have since withdrawn their initiative. However, if parliament’s counterproposal fails at the ballot box on 18 June, the Glacier Initiative could still be put to voters at a later juncture. matically if people are forced to drive electric cars in future and fit their homes with electric heat pumps. Switzerland cannot generate enough electricity as it is, it adds. Opponents of the bill also say that property owners who eventually replace oil and gas will be hit with extra costs. Supporters, on the other hand, point to public-sector investment in renewables such as solar, hydro, and wind. Special focus on solar and hydro Notwithstanding climate change legislation, parliament last autumn approved an amendment to the Energy Act, which will speed up the construction of solar farms like the one being planned in the canton of Valais (see “Swiss Review” 1/2023). Furthermore, the National Council and the Council of States are currently debating legislation to ensure electricity security. The aim is for Switzerland to produce more energy from renewable sources – particularly hydropower. Berne has identified 15 dam projects to provide additional electricity in winter especially. One of these would be the construction of a reservoir below the Trift Glacier (see “Swiss Review” 1/2022). Critics fear that nature conservation will suffer as a result. Hence, there is a distinct possibility of this issue being put to voters too. But first we have the climate referendum on 18 June, which will also be the first major test for the new energy and environment minister, Albert Rösti (SVP). In his former capacity as a National Councillor and a lobbyist for the oil industry, Rösti was one of the leading figures opposing the shift away from fossil fuel. In his role as Federal Councillor, he must now defend the climate bill – against the will of his own party. An alarming sight on the Bernina mountain range – narrow strips of ice are all there is left of the Diavolezza Glacier. In summer, these are protected under white plastic sheets. Photo: Keystone Despite broad-based support in parliament, not all the political parties agree with the climate change legislation. The SVP calls it the “energyguzzling act” and has initiated the 18 June referendum, claiming that energy consumption will increase draThe sustained acceleration in the glacier melt rate has become the poster child of climate change in Switzerland. Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 11
THEODORA PETER The actual number of men and women standing for election will become clear in August, when the deadline for nominations expires in Switzerland’s 26 cantons. The current record number of candidates, set in 2019, could well be broken this year. The last federal elections saw more than 4,600 candidates fighting over 200 seats in the National Council, while more than 200 people stood for the 46 seats available in the Council of States. Voters, for their part, can expect to receive a large envelope through the post this autumn. This item will not only include the relevant election lists but also numerous campaign leaflets. So much election literature can be slightly daunting. Cantonal variation The size of the envelope will depend not least on the canton in which you are entitled to vote. The Swiss Abroad are no exception in this regard. In the two most populous cantons, Zurich and Berne, 36 and 24 National Council seats are up for grabs respectively. The quota varies between 19 and seven seats for mid-sized cantons, and between six and one for the least populous cantons. Then you have the Council of States, where candidates contest one and two seats per canton. Even voters in smaller cantons are spoilt for choice, with party nominations still far outstripping the number of available seats. And unlike in municipal elections, when candidates are often the man or woman next door, those running for election at federal level could come from the opposite corner of the canton. Regardless of distance, filling in a ballot paper is a democratic right that takes more than a little thought. How do I find out which parties and candidates best represent my own political views? Smartvote questionnaire and spider graph If you are happy to invest a bit of time into making the right choice, you can do worse than register on Smartvote. ch – an expert-driven system that works like an online dating site. The Smartvote platform asks you to respond to a range of questions that have already been answered by the election candidates. Instead of being personal, the questions cover key issues in Swiss politics – such as pension provision, health insurance premiums, taxation, the environment, and immigration. At the end, a list of matches pops up on screen – these are the names of candidates whose policies measure up best to your own views in percentage terms. You can also view a “smartspider”: a spider graph that visualises your political preferences along eight thematic axes (see page 13 for two examples). Online guidance for voters ahead of the federal elections The federal elections on 22 October will again see thousands of candidates contesting the 246 seats in parliament. With so many politicians to choose from, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Online platforms like Smartvote help you to make an informed decision. According to Smartvote project manager Michael Erne, a reworked version of the questionnaire will be ready by the summer in time for the 2023 elections. To allow comparison with previous elections, most of the 75 questions will remain the same or just be updated. About a quarter of them will be completely new. “Themes like security, neutrality, and purchasing power have taken on greater importance in these elections due to the war in Ukraine, and because of inflation,” explains Erne. There is also more emphasis on digitalisation, which affects all areas of life. New version online from the end of August This spring, the public were able to submit their own theme-related input. A dedicated interface called “BePart” was set up for this purpose, says Erne. The platform received around 200 submissions, including questions such as “Should Switzerland allow other countries to re-export Swissmanufactured weapons and ammunition?” and “Are you in favour of Switzerland joining the EEA?” Suggestions from the public, as well as input from politicians and academics, will be used to improve Smartvote. Following a trial period, the new questionnaire will eventually go online at the end of August. Anyone who wishes to test out the platform before then can access the online questionnaire for the 2019 national elections. Four years ago, the platform was used by 500,000 to 600,000 voters, or 20 per cent of the total turnout at the ballot box. Smartvote is also popular among the election candidates themselves, 85 per cent of whom completed the questionnaire in the 2019 elections. It makes sense that politicians want to feature on the platform. Federal politics for children Around 100,000 people visit the Federal Palace in Berne every year. Many of them belong to school classes, who go on guided tours and watch the parliamentary debates live in the National Council and Council of States. In 2022, the Swiss youth literature foundation SJW published “Auf ins Bundeshaus!”/”Les souris du Palais fédéral” – an illustrated story about a girl called Melissa who smuggles her pet mouse Luna into the Federal Palace, causing no shortage of commotion. During their adventure through parliament, Melissa and Luna learn how politics works both in public and behind the scenes. (TP) Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 12 Politics
www.smartvote.ch www.easyvote.ch www.ch.ch/de/wahlen2023/ www.elections-2023.ch rules on standing for election and the rules on transparency around political funding, as well as an election glossary explaining technical terms such as “multiple candidacy” and “party vote”. In addition, the platform contains information on what to do if you are a Swiss Abroad and want to exercise your political rights in the elections. All but 15 per cent of candidates wanted to be included. According to Erne, the absentees tend to be “list fillers”, i.e. people who enter their name on the election list without expecting to be elected. Easyvote – explanatory videos and app easyvote.ch is another resource making it easier for people to exercise their right to vote. The umbrella organisation of Swiss youth parliaments developed easyvote.ch with the aim of encouraging political participation primarily among young people. The platform offers a good overview of forthcoming elections and popular votes, with neutral, easy-to-understand content that will appeal to a wide range of people. For the federal elections, it has short videos explaining Switzerland’s two-chamber system and how to fill in a ballot paper correctly. There is also a dedicated app called Votenow, which is available for use on smartphone. Ch.ch – election information from the Swiss authorities Meanwhile, the Confederation and cantons offer www.ch.ch – a user-friendly one-stop shop of continually updated information on the federal elections. The site includes an election calendar, an overview of the Liberal society welfare state Expanded protection Extended environmental migration policy Restrictive Law&order financial policy Restrictive Liberal economy Open foreign policy Liberal society welfare state Expanded protection Extended environmental migration policy Restrictive Law&order financial policy Restrictive Liberal economy Open foreign policy Left wing The “smartspider” visualises a person’s political views and values along eight thematic axes. Candidate X in the above example wants an expanded welfare state and a liberal society. He also favours a progressive, EU-oriented foreign policy approach. In comparison, environmental issues play a somewhat less important role in his thinking. He completely disagrees with taking a more restrictive line on immigration. (TP) Right wing Candidate Y favours a liberal approach to economic policy, with as much deregulation and as little state intervention as possible. As the spider graph shows, she is just as keen on measures to improve law and order as she is on taking a more restrictive line on immigration. On the other hand, Candidate Y has no interest in expanding the welfare state or advocating environmental issues. (TP) Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 13
MARC LETTAU Easter is over for another year. Once again, chocolate bunnies of all shapes and sizes were a hit on the shelves. Swiss supermarket giant Migros produced 6.8 million of them alone at its Delica factory in Buchs (canton of St Gallen). Country of the hare China may have its year of the hare (known as ‘year of the rabbit’ in English), but Switzerland is – or used to be – the country of the hare. In German-speaking Switzerland in particular, countless addresses are named after our long-eared friends. Hasenacker, Hasenberg, Hasenbühl, Hasenburg, Hasenfeld, Hasengaden, Hasenhalden, Hasenmoos, Hasenplatte, Hasensprung, Hasental, Hasenstrick, and Hasenwinkel, to name but a few. Hares in Switzerland – specifically brown hares – used to hop around all over the place – and were hunted in droves. Decline Hare used to be popular on the dinner plate. Hunters shot up to 75,000 brown hares in the years directly after the Second World War. “They used to be the number one hunting trophy,” says biologist Claudine Winter from the Biodiversity and Landscape Division of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). According to the latest hunting statistics for Switzerland, only around 1,500 brown hares are now shot each year. This is because hare numbers have plummeted – especially in the Central Plateau reSwitzerland’s unhappy bunnies In the Chinese zodiac, 2023 is the year of the rabbit (or hare). Chocolate bunnies are well-loved in Switzerland, but their natural counterparts in the wild are anything but happy bunnies. kilometre. On the other hand, the rise of the Easter bunny shows no sign of abating. On top of the millions of chocolate bunnies produced by Migros, rival Coop and all the other confectionery manufacturers produce millions more. According to the Association of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers, Chocosuisse, around 16 million leave the conveyor belt every year in Switzerland – two per capita – and 5,000 tonnes of chocolate are consumed every Easter. You would be forgiven for thinking that chocolate bunnies go back a long way, but these treats were very rare until 1950. Hollow bunnies did not even exist – until chocolatiers invented and perfected them. It was only about 50 years ago that production kicked in with a vengeance – starting a steep upward trend inversely proportional to the dwindling numbers of brown hares in the wild. Admittedly, the brown hare monitoring survey is unable to provide accurate inMost people in Switzerland rarely ever see brown hares. Chocolate bunnies are much more common, to put it mildly. Photo iStock Higher, farther, faster, more beautiful? In search of somewhat unconventional Swiss records This edition: The brown hare and the chocolate bunny – a tale of extremes gion. The Swiss brown hare monitoring survey, conducted since 1991 and covering selected areas of the country, illustrates how dramatic the situation has become. It is an exclusively downward trend, with the number of brown hares having halved again in the last three decades from an already low level to a very low level. Switzerland is currently home to an average of 2.5 brown hares per square Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 14 Report
formation on the number of brown hares left in Switzerland because of its focus on selected areas of the country. Even the latest hunting statistics are of limited value; hare hunting is illegal in numerous cantons, because the animal is on the red list of endangered species. But there is still one relatively reliable if gruesome statistic documenting the sustained decline of the brown hare: the number of wild animals hit and killed by cars and agricultural machinery. Hares accounted for around 4,000 such deaths in the 1980s. Nowadays, the figure is only about 1,000. Bad habitat Brown hares lead a particularly precarious existence in Switzerland’s Central Plateau region. “Things are not looking good at all for brown hares in the flatter, most intensely farmed parts of the country,” says Claudine Winter. Amid vast swathes of agricultural land, there are insufficient hedgerows and other biodiversity-enhancing boundaries for hares to shelter their young. Out in the open, they are an easy catch for foxes, wildcats, and birds of prey. Specific farming practices have also led to their decimation. Winter: “If farmers waited until as late as possible to mow their fields, this would help to protect hares – and roe deer too.” But there are no regulations in Switzerland to encourage this practice. Does the plight of the brown hare have any bearing on children’s Easter experience? Barely, given that chocolate bunnies are the first members of the Leporidae family that many will ever see. Even in neighbourhoods like Hasenbühl or Hasenacker, the The ancestors of the brown hares that still live in Switzerland originally came from the steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia. They made their way over in the Neolithic period – along with crop farming. Photo: iStock likelihood of seeing a brown hare is extremely low to zero. Residential areas are completely alien to hares. Foxes are becoming much more common in built-up areas. Prolific Hares are seen as fertility symbols. The female can bear offspring up to four times a year. Indeed, few other wild animals breed as prolifically when the habitat is right. Nevertheless, it is the chocolatiers who hold the record: Lindt & Sprüngli produces around 150 million of its iconic Gold Bunnies every year around the world. Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 15
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Short and sweet + 50 000 000 000 In mid-March, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) agreed a credit injection of 50 billion Swiss francs for the beleaguered big bank Credit Suisse (CS) (see page 8) to keep the markets sweet. In light of this remarkable liquidity injection, we wonder how much money we could squeeze out of the SNB if this magazine fell on hard times. -1 The Matterhorn is unique. Until recently, images of the iconic mountain adorned Toblerone bars. Those days are now over. As Toblerone is moving some production from Switzerland to Slovakia, the bar with the triangular chocolate chunks must do without the Matterhorn’s silhouette on its packaging. It’s Toblergone! The branding will feature a generic Alpine peak instead. +25 % After so much sugar, let’s do mushrooms. But please, please do not eat these lovely green specimens under any circumstances. The aptly named death cap is one of the most poisonous toadstools in Switzerland. No joke. Many wannabe mushroom pickers discovered their calling during the pandemic – and the number of mushroom poisonings subsequently increased by around 25 per cent in the fungi-friendly autumn of 2022. Better stick with sweets. FIGURES COMPILED BY MARC LETTAU “Swiss Review”, the magazine for the Swiss Abroad, is in its 49th year of publication and is published six times a year in German, French, English and Spanish in 13 regional editions. It has a total circulation of 431,000, including 253,000 electronic copies. “Swiss Review”’s regional news appears four times a year. The ordering parties are fully responsible for the content of advertisements and promotional inserts. This content does not necessarily represent the opinion of either the editorial office or the publisher. All Swiss Abroad who are registered with a Swiss representation receive the magazine free of charge. Anyone else can subscribe for an annual fee (Switzerland: CHF 30 / abroad: CHF 50). ONLINE EDITION www.revue.ch EDITORS Marc Lettau, Editor-in-Chief (MUL) Stéphane Herzog (SH) Theodora Peter (TP) Susanne Wenger (SWE) Paolo Bezzola (PB, FDFA representative) FDFA OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS The editorial responsibility for the “Notes from the Federal Palace” section is assumed by the Consular Directorate, Innovation and Partnerships, Effinger- strasse 27, 3003 Berne, Switzerland. kdip@eda.admin.ch | www.fdfa.admin.ch EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sandra Krebs (KS) TRANSLATION SwissGlobal Language Services AG, Baden LAYOUT Joseph Haas, Zürich PRINT Vogt-Schild Druck AG, Derendingen PUBLISHER The “Swiss Review” is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). The postal address of the publisher, the editorial office and advertising department is: Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne. revue@swisscommunity.org Phone: +41 31 356 61 10 Bank details: CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 / KBBECH22 COPY DEADLINE FOR THIS EDITION 15 March 2023 CHANGES TO DELIVERY Please advise your local embassy or consulate. The editorial team cannot access your address and administrative data. Thank you. +33 % More and more Swiss are acquiring a sweet tooth – much to the delight of Switzerland’s confectionery manufacturers, who managed to sell 33 per cent more in 2022 than they did in the pandemic-affected year of 2021. Luckily, Switzerland is not the only market for selling sweets: 86 per cent of Swiss-made confectionery is exported, the biggest recipient being the US. -13 % The average Swiss consumes around 100 g of sugar per day – double the maximum amount recommended by the World Health Organization. Both government and industry want to reduce the amount of sugar in food and drink, and have already achieved some success in this regard: within five years, sugar content has fallen by 13 per cent in breakfast cereals and by 6 per cent in yoghurts. Swiss Review / May 2023 / No.3 17 Switzerland in figures Imprint
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