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EUROPEAN UNION

Politicians: Switzerland is not an island

Switzerland should not cut itself off from the world. That's the message expressed by politicians speaking on the occasion of Swiss National Day on Monday.

Published: 2 August 2016 10:26 CEST
Politicians: Switzerland is not an island
Justice minister Simonetta Sommaruga said Switzerland is defined by its links to the world. File photo: Thierry Charlier/AFP

Remembering the victims of recent terror attacks in France and Germany, justice minister Simonetta Sommaruga said Switzerland is not an isolated entity and is also affected by the current climate, news agencies reported.

“We should never get used to these attacks and accept them as part of European reality. We will not let ourselves be intimidated by violence… we will defend our values and live according to them,” she said.

Switzerland is a place where different cultures coexist and is defined by the links that “unite us to the world,” she added.

She also used the occasion to stress the importance of the country's relationship with the EU, Switzerland's main trading partner, with whom it is still striving to find a deal over immigration.

“The prosperity that we have in Switzerland is essentially due to the fact that the European Union has succeeded, over seven decades, in preserving peace in Europe,” she said, warning of the threat nationalism poses to that peace.

Visiting Vallorbe in the Swiss Jura, foreign minister Didier Burkhalter spoke of combatting the root causes of terror by creating societies which do not “ghettoise”, Swiss media reported.

He also stressed that Switzerland should not stand back and do nothing in the face of terror in Europe.

The country has “the choice between looking on from afar and waiting, or realizing that nothing is that far away and we must act, that we have a role to play,” he said.

Their words echoed the sentiment of former federal prosecutor Carla del Ponte, who spoke at the country's official National Day celebration on the Grütli meadow near Lucerne.

Del Ponte stressed the diversity of Switzerland, with its multiple languages and cultures, and said it should remain open to the word, tolerant and willing to talk, reported news agencies.

“Fear is the worst adviser” and leads to isolation, she said.

Some 1,400 people gathered on the Grütli on Monday afternoon for the country's official celebration.

Swiss National Day, a holiday in the country, was also celebrated in communities with bonfires and fireworks displays.

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EUROPEAN UNION

Why does Switzerland have to comply with European court rulings?

Europe's top rights court ruled that Switzerland was not doing enough to tackle climate change, condemning it to a hefty fee. But why does Switzerland have to abide by this decision?

Published: 10 April 2024 14:11 CEST
Why does Switzerland have to comply with European court rulings?

In a landmark ruling handed down on April 9th, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg sided with a group of Swiss pensioners who ‘sued’ the country for not doing enough to mitigate the effects of global warming. 

The ECHR ruled that Switzerland had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the “right to respect for private and family life,” and ordered the government to pay the complainants a fine of €80,000 (78,555 francs). 

READ ALSO: Who are Switzerland’s victorious climate ‘Elders’? 

While environmental groups and a number of political parties welcomed the verdict, questions also arose about why Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, must comply with the decision handed down by the Council of Europe’s court.

This fact was not lost on the populist, anti-EU Swiss People’s Party (SVP).

One of its MPs, Jean-Luc Addor, questioned not only the court’s judgment, but also the fact that foreign judges have ‘meddled’ in Swiss matters.

“What is the legitimacy of the ECHR to pronounce such a ‘condemnation’?,” he asked.” Is it now going to send the European army to Switzerland?”

So why is Switzerland obligated to conform to the ECHR’s judgment? 

In 1974, the country, though neutral, signed the European Convention on Human Rights.

As the European court was established expressly to monitor the parties’ compliance with the provisions enshrined in the Convention, Switzerland must heed its judgements. (The ECHR hears only matters related to human rights. It does not handle any criminal cases).

To ensure that rulings are just and impartial, the ECHR’s judges come from the 46 countries that ratified the Convention.

Switzerland is represented by Andreas Zünd, who has served on the ECHR since January 2021.

How do Swiss cases end up in front of ECHR judges?

Switzerland has different court levels: district, cantonal, and federal.

Complainants first file their cases in the district court. If they are not happy with the verdict, they can appeal it within 30 days, at which point the case will go to the higher judicial level, that is, the cantonal court.

The next step up the judicial ladder is the Federal Supreme court, the highest judicial authority in Switzerland.

Headquartered in Lausanne, it is the final instance on all appeals against decisions of the cantonal courts.

But though this final judgment can’t be appealed in Switzerland, the case  — if it relates to rights outlined in the Convention — can be taken to the ECHR.

READ ALSO: What you should know about Switzerland’s courts 

What ‘Swiss cases’ have been judged by the European court?

The climate activists’ case is the latest of dozens of rulings involving complaints from Switzerland. 

Some of the other successful ones involved a widower whose pension benefits were denied by a Swiss court; a Romanian woman fined for beginning in Geneva; and a Sudanese man who won his appeal against deportation from Switzerland. 

You can see all the ECHR rulings for Switzerland (in German or French) for the last 45 years here.

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