Only crawling speed in the cities and Geneva chips in Russian rockets
The headlines in unverified reports:
slow pace in the cities
In the future, a speed limit of 30 will apply in Swiss residential areas – including on the main roads. The association of cities, to which 129 cities and municipalities belong, demands this in a new position paper, as the “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. It will abolish the case-by-case assessment that a municipality has to carry out today if it wants to reduce the maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour on a main traffic axis. “The paradigm shift is necessary because more and more people live and work along the transport axes,” said Frauenfeld Mayor Anders Stokholm (FDP). The noise that emanates from the busy streets is harmful to the health of the population. In addition, it prevents development in urban areas, since many projects are blocked due to noise objections. TCS and trade association are against it.
Keller-Sutter suspended further admissions of refugees
Switzerland had committed to taking in 1,820 of these resettlement refugees from the UN refugee agency UNHCR for the years 2022 and 2023. But now the Justice Department of FDP Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter is temporarily suspending the recordings, as the “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. The reason: the asylum system is at a standstill because of the refugees from Ukraine and asylum seekers from other countries. The decision comes at an explosive time: Karin Keller-Sutter will soon be handing over the Department of Justice to her successor, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. The SP Federal Councilor is unlikely to have made the decision.
Swiss technology in Russian missiles
According to the “SonntagsBlick”, Swiss technology is used in the attacks on civilians and the energy supply in Ukraine. A team of researchers from the precise think tank Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) allegedly examined the Russian high-tech Kh-101 missile and found microprocessors from the Geneva-based company STMicroelectronics. The Geneva company did not respond to questions from the newspaper. The federal government took a position on the other hand. Antje Baertschi, spokeswoman for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), says: “We are aware of components related to Switzerland that have been found in Russian weapon systems in Ukraine.” The clarifications so far have shown that the components are industrial bulk goods that were not subject to any trade restrictions until the beginning of the war in February.
Older mothers get nothing from the pension reform
Young people from low-wage industries are the only ones who would benefit greatly from the pension reforms passed by the Council of States this week. A young saleswoman with an average annual wage of 40,000 francs would receive a monthly pension that is 364 francs higher, as an analysis by the “SonntagsZeitung” shows. The generation of today’s 50 to 60-year-old mothers, who have not written or only written part-time for a long time because of the children, comes off badly. Even with the AHV, these mothers bit the bullet. The supporters had promised that they would then get off well with the pension fund reform. But according to the decision of the Council of States, they should now only get a little more pension – many are even threatened with a pension reduction.
Million hole in children’s hospital financing
RS virus, flu and financial problems lay the children’s hospitals flat. Responsible for this are the interventions made by Federal Councilor Alain Berset in 2014 and 2018 in the Tarmed doctor’s tariff, says Manfred Manser, President of the University Children’s Hospital in Basel, compared to “SonntagsBlick”. The result: a quarter of the costs in the outpatient area are not covered. The six large children’s hospitals in St. Gallen, Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lausanne and Geneva together make a deficit of 60 million Swiss francs in the outpatient sector every year. Foundations, donors and supporting cantons have to plug the holes. That’s why they’ve been putting pressure on Bern since 2018. In 2020, Parliament approved a motion to finance children’s hospitals, calling on Alain Berset to take action against the million-dollar hole. The Minister of Health had until last September to implement the request, but so far this has not happened.
Ukrainian soldiers want Swiss army vehicles
Ukrainian soldiers are interested in former Swiss Army vehicles. The Mercedes vans, which are advertised for sale on an online platform, are intended to transport people and equipment in Ukraine. The soldiers are now collecting donations for the purchase of the trucks via social media, as the “SonntagsZeitung” writes. According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), the soldiers can buy the vehicles: “The transporters are not considered armaments, nor as dual-use goods, nor as goods for actual and technological strengthening or for the development of the defense and security sector” , Fabian Maienfisch is quoted from Seco.
Switzerland mediates between Serbia and Kosovo
Switzerland is mediating discreetly behind the scenes between Serbia and Kosovo and is trying to prevent the conflict from escalating further, as the “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) received representatives of both countries in Switzerland in mid-November. “Such a meeting took place a week after the Serbs withdrew from the Kosovar institutions,” confirmed EDA spokeswoman Elisa Raggi. For reasons of confidentiality, the FDFA does not want to say exactly where the talks will take place. As the EDA continues, this meeting was not an isolated case. Since 2015, Switzerland has been supporting the European Union, which is leading the normalization dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, with its own complementary instruments.
GPK investigates removal of SRK director
According to research by the “SonntagsZeitung”, the Audit Committee (GPK) of the Swiss Red Cross (SRK) is investigating the events that led to Director Markus Mader’s dismissal. The scandal was preceded by an internal tug of war about the alignment. The commission is headed by Graubünden SRK Vice President Gion Claudio Candinas. The lawyer writes on request: “We will investigate the circumstances that led to the termination of the employment relationship and communicate the findings to the addressee.” SRK President Barbara Schmid-Federer welcomes “an objective and thorough investigation by the GPK”.
Half of all IV pensions are psychological
Burnout and depression are on the rise, and absenteeism from work due to psychological problems has reached a record high. If you are looking for a place with a psychiatrist or a psychologist, you have to be patient. Experts estimate that waiting times for adult psychotherapy can currently be one to two months. Half of all IV pensions today are psychological, as the “SonntagsZeitung” writes. Their share of IV causes has risen steadily from 27 percent in 1995 to 50 percent in 2021. Congenital defects, accidents, diseases of the bones and musculoskeletal system or other diseases play a much smaller role today. Especially among the very young, the proportion of mentally conditioned new pensioners has grown significantly. The number of 18- to 24-year-old IV pensioners for psychological reasons has tripled since 2000.