Wednesday, May 20Wednesday, May 20Federal and Cantonal Governance in Switzerland
Asylum and Residence Permits Several Swiss cantons, particularly in Central Switzerland, have opposed federal plans to convert the temporary S protection status (primarily held by Ukrainian refugees) into B residence permits after five years. The cantons argue that this would shift the status from a temporary measure to a permanent residency model, contradicting its original purpose. They also warn of significant financial burdens on cantonal and municipal budgets if the change is implemented .
Environmental and Wildlife Policy The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) reported that preventive wolf culling has slowed population growth in Switzerland. Since 2023, over 220 wolves have been killed under federal regulations, with 77 culled in the most recent period (September 2025–January 2026). The federal government authorized the culling of approximately 115 wolves during this phase, though fewer were ultimately killed. The policy aims to balance wildlife management with livestock protection .
A new popular initiative seeks to constitutionally protect pollinating insects, including bees, by requiring the federal and cantonal governments to ensure their survival. The initiative, launched by beekeepers, nature advocates, and parliamentarians, calls for federal guidelines, financial support for cantons and municipalities, and incentives for habitat preservation. It must collect 100,000 signatures by November 2027 to trigger a nationwide vote .
Defense and Neutrality The Swiss Army is expanding its testing of minidrones for reconnaissance and combat use, reflecting global military trends. The army aims to integrate drone technology into operations while training personnel in FPV (First-Person View) piloting to enhance tactical capabilities. The trials, scheduled for autumn 2025, will assess both defensive and offensive applications .
A comedic documentary, *En Terrain Neutre (Neutral Ground)*, examines Swiss neutrality ahead of a potential autumn 2026 referendum on enshrining it in the constitution. The film critiques Switzerland’s long-standing neutrality policy amid geopolitical shifts, following Parliament’s rejection of a right-wing proposal to formalize armed neutrality. The debate highlights tensions between traditional neutrality and modern security challenges .
Arms Export Oversight Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) reported that Jordan partially obstructed arms control inspections in early 2025. Swiss law requires post-shipment verifications (PSV) to ensure exported weapons remain in the designated country, but Jordan refused full access to certain weapons and could not account for others. The incident raises concerns about compliance with Swiss arms export regulations .
Transport and Infrastructure The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) is restructuring its freight business, affecting 200 employees, including 30 in French-speaking Switzerland. The changes stem from a federal service mandate to improve wagonload services (TWCI), which group multiple customers’ freight into single trains. The goal is to make freight operations profitable by 2033, with most employees offered retraining or relocation rather than redundancies .
Air Traffic Control Restructuring Skyguide, Switzerland’s air traffic control provider, plans to cut up to 220 jobs by 2027 due to rising costs and operational inefficiencies. The restructuring will impact Geneva-Cointrin and Dübendorf airfields, though operational air traffic controllers will be spared. The first phase (90 job cuts) begins in September–November 2026, with a second phase (up to 130 cuts) in May–June 2027. Personnel costs are projected to reach CHF 382 million in 2025, out of a total budget of CHF 576 million .
Swiss air traffic controller Skyguide to cut up to 220 jobs Swiss air traffic control company Skyguide intends to reduce its workforce by up to 220 positions by the end of 2027. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The company is responding to rising costs by opening a consultation procedure with its employees. The Geneva-Cointrin site and the Dübendorf airfield are in the firing line of the restructuring, with the exception of the air traffic controllers active on the operational level. The planned job cuts will be implemented in two stages. Ninety positions will be affected between September and November of this year and up to 130 positions between May and June 2027, Skyguide said on Tuesday. The company cites rising personnel and systems costs, uncertain revenues, European efficiency targets and complex internal structures as reasons for the cuts. In 2025, personnel costs will amount to some CHF382 million, out of total expenditure of CHF576 million. Greater efficiency Skyguide believes that structural measures are ...
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Swiss financial fraud cases rose in 2025 The Swiss Banking Ombudsman dealt with an increase in the number of cases in 2025. The main cause remains fraud involving card payments and online banking services. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The Swiss Banking Ombudsman handled 2,575 cases last year, 4 more than the previous year, explained Ombudsman Andreas Barfuss at a press conference on Tuesday. By region, 55 of the complaints came from German-speaking Switzerland, while 23 came from abroad. The proportion of requests from French-speaking Switzerland remained more or less stable at 19. The proportion from Italian-speaking Switzerland remained unchanged at 3. In 90 of cases, the value in dispute was less than CHF100,000. In 2025, the number of fraud cases handled by the Ombudsman rose again, to 316 compared with 270 in 2024. Among them, phishing scams were once again significant. Legally, financial institutions are not generally obliged to compensate customers in this type of case ...
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Blackcap replaces chaffinch as most common Swiss bird The blackcap is now the most common bird in Switzerland. According to the Swiss Ornithological Institutes 2025 bird monitoring programme, it has displaced the chaffinch from first place. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox There are now almost one million breeding pairs of blackcaps in Switzerland, according to the Swiss Ornithological Institute. The species is benefiting from the expansion of forests at higher altitudes. + Youre in luck if you spot these Swiss birds Another reason for the increase is that more and more birds are spending the winter in Europe instead of migrating south. At the same time, according to the monitoring, chaffinch populations have declined. Regardless of the change at the top, the decline of the chaffinch is puzzling because its causes are largely unknown, the report states. Other well-known birds such as the sparrow and the blackbird still made it into the top ten most common species. The street pigeon, on the other hand, is ...
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Preventive culling controls Swiss wolf population Preventive culling of wolves has helped to slow the growth of the wolf population in Switzerland. This is the federal governments conclusion after three phases of regulation since 2023. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox More than 220 wolves have been killed so far, without having caused any prior damage. During the last regulatory period from September 2025 to the end of January 2026, 77 wolves were killed, according to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). In the 2024/2025 period, the number was 92 wolves, and in the first, shortened period, 55 animals were killed. In each case, fewer animals were shot than the federal government had authorized. + How many wolves are good for Switzerland? During the third regulatory period, 76 wolves were shot proactively and one reactively, after a certain level of damage to livestock had been exceeded, reported FOEN. The agency had authorized the culling of approximately 115 animals. FOEN has concluded, after ...
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Swiss railway freight rejig affects 200 employees The reorientation of Swiss Federal Railways freight business means changes for almost 200 employees. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Employees will have to change their place of work or retrain within the company. Redundancies will be the exception, the company announced on Tuesday. As announced in December, Swiss Railways will be stepping up wagonload services (TWCI), in which wagons from several customers are grouped together to form freight trains. The Confederation has entrusted the cargo division with the service mandate. TWCI will be considerably more efficient from December onwards, the company said. The aim is to make freight traffic profitable from 2033. Around 30 employees in French-speaking Switzerland are affected. Swiss Railways is offering them a change of workplace, integration into a subsidiary or partner network, or a supported career change within the company. Adapted from French by AI/mga How we work We select the most relevant news ...
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Six out of ten Swiss companies use AI Six out of ten Swiss companies are using artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study by UBS bank. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The technology is generally viewed positively. Few companies, however, see it as a substitute for employees. Many companies are using AI, but few are doing so systematically, explains Alessandro Bee, economist at UBS, commenting on a survey by the major bank published on Tuesday. Small companies are using AI mainly for analysis purposes, while in large companies, the automation of business processes is the most cited application. + Will AI secure or shake Swiss prosperity? On average, companies see AI more as an opportunity than a risk. Thanks to this technology, significant productivity gains can be achieved. In terms of risks, the main concerns relate to data protection and security, as well as the fear of inaccurate decisions linked to inaccurate algorithms or data. Just over half of the companies surveyed want to ...
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Swiss army continues field tests of minidrones The Swiss army is conducting further field trials of minidrones, which can be used for reconnaissance or as precision weapons. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The Swiss army says that drones are increasingly expanding the possibilities for reconnaissance and attack. Minidrones are used for reconnaissance and exploration missions and can gather intelligence without endangering human lives. + Read about the dilemma of producing military drones in neutral Switzerland But equipped with explosive charges, they become a precision weapon capable of fighting targets, the army adds. On the Ukrainian front, their massive use has profoundly changed the way war is waged. Armies must therefore learn to protect their troops, vehicles, equipment and infrastructure against minidrones. Trained in FPV piloting For the Swiss army, the aim is to carry out early tests to learn how to master this technology. As part of the field trials scheduled for autumn 2025, it has ...
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Swiss initiative aims to better protect pollinating insects A committee of beekeepers, nature lovers and parliamentarians has officially launched a peoples initiative to enshrine the protection of bees and other pollinating insects in the constitution. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The popular initiative In favour of ensuring the pollination of cultivated and wild plants by insects (bee initiative) was published in the Federal Gazette on Tuesday. The initiative has until November 19, 2027 to collect 100,000 valid signatures to force a nationwide vote. The initiative requires the federal government and cantons to ensure the pollination of cultivated and wild plants by insects and to deploy the necessary resources for this purpose. They would be required to set guidelines for this purpose. The initiative calls on the central government to support the cantons, municipalities and the economy in their efforts in favour of insects. This inclöudes incentives for the provision, maintenance and improvement of ...
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Switzerland monitors Japanese concerns over Tavneos drug Switzerlands drugs regulator Swissmedic is closely monitoring international developments around the drug Tavneos following warnings from Japan about several deaths. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The Japanese pharmaceutical company Kissei Pharmaceutical has warned doctors against prescribing Tavneos, a drug developed by the American biotech company Amgen to treat rare autoimmune diseases, to new patients. Since the drugs market launch in 2021, 20 people have died after taking it. The Japanese company warned physicians of the risk of severe liver dysfunction and urged them to review whether ongoing treatments should be continued. Although no deaths have been recorded in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to revoke the drugs approval, while the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched a review. Both agencies have expressed concerns regarding data falsification and other issues. The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic ...
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Swiss cantons object to conversion of asylum status to work permits Several Swiss cantons have rejected government plans to allow asylum seekers, many from Ukraine, to convert their temporary S protection status into work permits. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox In a recent communication, the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Social Affairs of Central Switzerland warned of the financial consequences for cantons and municipalities. + Since rule change Switzerland rejects 104 Ukrainian refugees The financial burden that would arise for the cantons and municipalities following the planned changeover is particularly problematic, the cantons said after their spring meeting. + Ukrainian men in Switzerland face dilemma Protection status S was created as a temporary instrument, the cantons stated. An automatic conversion to a B residence permit after five years would contradict this basic idea. It would effectively change the S status from a temporary protection instrument to a permanent residence model, the cantonal group ...
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Jordan rebuffs Swiss arms control inspectors Jordan refused to fully cooperate with a Swiss delegation sent to inspect weapons exported from the Alpine state last year. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox This is revealed in a report by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), which was first reported by Swiss public broadcaster SRF. + Switzerland eases arms export rules as Europe shuns industry Countries that import Swiss weapons are not allowed to re-sell wihtout permission. Switzerland can check whether the war materiel is still in the country during so-called post-shipment verifications (PSV) on site. A Seco report states that only then can it be seen how seriously the country of destination actually takes the intergovernmental obligation. Jordan did not fulfil the PSV of early February 2025, as Seco writes. This is because certain weapons were not allowed to be inspected. There was also no trace of individual weapons, according to the report. Swiss state broadcaster SRF received the ...
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Comedic documentary dissects Swiss neutrality In En Terrain Neutre (Neutral Ground), Stéphane Göel and Mehdi Atmani take aim at a pillar of Swiss society, with a comic road-movie documentary that questions the countrys prized neutrality as voters consider enshrining it in the Constitution. The clock is ticking in the land of Rolex and Patek Philippe, where a founding myth of Swiss identity is at stake. After Parliament rejected a push by the right-wing Pro Schweiz association – backed by the right-wing Swiss Peoples Party – for a perpetual and armed neutrality, it will now be up to Swiss citizens to define what neutrality should look like in concrete political terms. As the country gears up for an autumn vote that could redefine a key pillar of Swiss foreign policy, the intensifying debate offers a timely chance to examine a virtue Switzerland has long prized. Simply put, now is the time to ask a painful question: what does Swiss neutrality mean amid the geopolitical turbulence of the 21st century? This question brings ...
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