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EUROPEAN UNION

Swiss president: ‘We are lucky to live in Switzerland’

When you see pictures of what’s going on in the rest of world, you feel lucky to live in Switzerland, said the new Swiss president, Alain Berset, in his New Year address on January 1st.

Published: 2 January 2018 10:21 CET
Swiss president: ‘We are lucky to live in Switzerland’
The official 2018 Swiss government portrait. Photo: admin.ch
Interior minister Berset, who took over from last year’s president Doris Leuthard on the stroke of midnight, said the country was a stable, safe and economically strong place in which to live, but acknowledged that many people had questions about their futures.
 
However, the Swiss system of direct democracy “allows us to not only ask these questions but to answer them too”.
 
“We can collectively decide how we wish to live. That’s a great privilege,” he said.
 
On the discussion table in the year to come will be the country’s relationship with the EU, questions over the future of the pension system, equal opportunities and access to jobs.
 
In difficult times people must come together and make compromises, “which often requires more courage than sticking to your guns,” he said.
 
“We have always known that that which unites us is stronger than that which separates us. We have learnt that in strengthening minorities, we strengthen the country.” 
 
As he takes up the rotating presidency, Berset faces several big issues in the year ahead.
 
Just before Christmas the Swiss government called out the EU for its “discriminatory” behaviour towards the Swiss financial markets, a row that will have to be dealt with before the two parties can move forward with negotiations over an institutional framework agreement.
 
Berset will also have to rethink his pension reform plans, which were rejected by the public in a September referendum, a bitter blow for the interior minister, who was attempting to secure the financial future of pensions. 
 
Speaking to the Tages Anzeiger he said everyone had to make compromises or the next revision of the reform would fail again.
 
“Already we have a considerable deficit that continues to grow. But it would be even more expensive if the next attempt at revision fails. We have to get out of this blockade,” he said.
 
In March the Swiss public will vote on abolishing Billag, Switzerland’s public radio and television fee, and extending the government’s right to impose VAT and federal tax.
 
Berset is also likely to have to deal with the run up to a public vote on banning the burqa, though no date has yet been set. 
 
The government’s official photo for 2018 was released on January 1st, showing the seven-person Federal Council and the Chancellor standing against a Swiss-themed cartoon drawn by a Fribourg artist.
 
The photo also has an animated gif version in which the background moves. 
 
 
 
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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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