Expenses for the voting campaigns in 2024, but also serious irregularities revealed at Credit Suisse and a prototype nuclear reactor soon to be tested in Switzerland make the headlines in the Sunday press.
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Here is the main information, not confirmed to Keystone-ATS:
44 million spent on federal votes in 2024
Political parties and pressure groups spent more than 44 million francs to campaign during the twelve federal votes in 2024, Le Matin Dimanche calculated. The results were mixed, as nine votes were won by the side that spent the least money on advertisements. The most expensive campaign was that on the extension of motorways with 7.4 million francs spent.
At the other end of the ranking, we find the law on physical integrity of June 9, with less than 100,000 francs invested by the initiating camp. With 6.9 million francs spent, the employers’ organization Economiesuisse is the one which put the most money into the votes, i.e. more than 1 franc in 6. The Swiss Trade Union Union (USS) managed to raise for its share more than 3.7 million. On the party side, the PS was the biggest spender with 2.6 million francs.
Fraud and complacency: Credit Suisse and FINMA in turmoil
Serious irregularities were committed by Credit Suisse and the Swiss financial market supervisory authority FINMA, denounces a 267-page expert report, released in parallel with that of the parliamentary commission of inquiry and relayed by the SonntagsZeitung. The report particularly points to the money laundering scandal involving the Russian mafia organization Tambovskaya.
In this case, FINMA criticized the bank’s board of directors for not having sufficiently enforced the laws and even considered imposing a ban on former Credit Suisse president Urs Rohner. and the chief lawyer of the time, before giving it up. However, according to the expert report, Urs Rohner repeatedly provided false information to FINMA in this matter.
In another case, the bank was ordered in 2018 to set up an additional supervisory body for compliance. But FINMA gave in and accepted Mr. Rohner’s proposal to replace it with an internal committee, a decision described as “incomprehensible” by experts.
Nuclear reactor prototype tested in Switzerland from 2026
A prototype nuclear reactor from Copenhagen Atomics should be tested in Switzerland from the end of 2026, assures SonntagsZeitung. The Paul Scherrer Institute, the multidisciplinary research laboratory of the Confederation, and the Danish company plan to test it in Villigen (AG). The operation of such a facility for research purposes is prohibited in Denmark, but permitted in Switzerland.
The small molten salt reactor, in which the nuclear fuel is in liquid form, must be mass-produced from 2030 to be sold worldwide. It could supply electricity to up to 80,000 homes, according to its designers.
“Even with relatively small installations, accidents can have enormous negative consequences for people and the environment,” warns Nils Epprecht, director of the Swiss Energy Foundation, in the newspaper. (HIS).
AI is revolutionizing pharmaceutical research
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has a central role in the development of medicines, notes the director of the Basel pharmaceutical group Roche, Thomas Schinecker, in the NZZ am Sonntag. AI accelerates research by analyzing molecules more efficiently and developing them in a targeted manner, he adds.
He cites as an example the development of a potential drug against inflammatory bowel diseases, which greatly benefits from AI data analysis.
Critique of Swiss cultural policy by Karl Spoerri
Swiss film producer Karl Spoerri criticizes Switzerland’s cultural policy in SonntagsBlick. He points to the Federal Office of Culture (OFC) and the Zurich Film Foundation, which refused to grant a subsidy of 500,000 francs to the film about the American author Patricia Highsmith, with Helen Mirren and Alden Ehrenreich in the main roles.
The feature film, which was initially to be shot in Switzerland, will be produced largely in Italy and the United Kingdom. Mr. Spoerri calls on Culture Minister Élisabeth Baume-Schneider to show more flexibility: “This is the only way for Switzerland to have more audiences and gain relevance at the international level,” he says. . “Our means are limited. We cannot encourage everything we would like to encourage,” Nadine Adler Spiegel, co-head of the OFC cinema section, responds in the newspaper.
The Swiss are reselling their Christmas gifts online
The Swiss are increasingly reselling Christmas gifts on online platforms, notes Le Matin Dimanche. “Just after Christmas, the number of advertisements published on our sites increases rapidly,” explains Michelle Gehri, in communications at Swiss Marketplace Group, in the newspaper.
The increase is 16% at Ricardo, 20% at tutti.ch and 22% at Anibis, when we compare the week before Christmas to the week following the end-of-year holidays. Among the items on sale, there are books which have received the main literary prizes, video games which have been talked about during the year and even toys, notably Lego boxes and collectible cards, as well as only perfumes in their packaging.
Soaring prices for residences at altitude
Prices for second homes, especially those located at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, continue to rise in Switzerland, notes SonntagsZeitung, referring to an analysis by Wüest Partner.
In Valais, the price gap with regions located at lower altitudes has widened significantly since 2020. Climate change, snow security and the attractiveness of cool mountains in summer explain this phenomenon.
In the canton of Graubünden, good accessibility and investments in tourism infrastructure have pushed prices up by 76% since 2011. A similar trend is observed in the canton of Bern, where prices have increased by 55% since 2011.
