by Luca Beti
(15 March 2021) Switzerland has been supporting the «ProJoven» vocational training project in Honduras since 2013 to help integrate underprivileged young people in the workforce. The project continues to forge ahead, Covid-19 notwithstanding, and has proved surprisingly adaptable.
“Abort the exercise”: This is what more and more politicians, trade unionists and even new business committees are calling for
by Niklaus Ramseyer
(24 January 2021) “Swiss Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Department of Foreign Affairs, must now find the reset button he wanted to press at the beginning of his term of office as soon as possible.” That's what the new president of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and Ticino national councillor Marco Chiesa said early this year in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung about the draft institutional agreement between Switzerland and the EU. Chiesa's demand is only logical – and not new: His party was and is fundamentally opposed to the agreement.
A plea for our individual freedom
by Thomas Scherr
(30 January 2021) «Who is afraid of William Tell? Old-fashioned reflections on democracy».* This is the title of Oliver Zimmer's book published in November 2020. The author teaches modern European history in Oxford. He has been living in England for twenty years, but his roots lie on the shores of Lake Zurich. We recommend any democrat who has preserved his spirit of freedom to read his book.
The Swiss federal administration does not give up
(30 January 2021) ts. The best way to lose the trust of others is to try to pressure or rehearse the same bad ideas over and over again. Why is the Swiss federal government so eager to introduce e-voting in Switzerland?
by Nicola Eisenborn, political scientist
(30 January 2021) Reflections on an aspect of the speech by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, held at the press conference on December 24 2020 on the outcome of the negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
A Swiss foundation for development cooperation
"When I founded the international development organisation 'Nouvelle Planète' 34 years ago, I never thought it would reach such a scale," explains Willy Randin. “Nouvelle Planète” is really a different kind of development cooperation. In the 1970s, Willy Randin began his deeply human international involvement. He led Red Cross medical teams to war-torn countries like Yemen and Vietnam. In the 1980s, he served as director of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene, Gabon. — Today, his son Philippe Randin directs the fortunes of this impressive relief organisation, which was founded in 1986.