THE MAGAZINE FOR THE SWISS ABROAD MARCH 2011 / NO. 2 Switzerland’s political system under scrutiny Heinz Spoerli, ballet icon set to retire New transport policy faces opposition International Health Insurance Vorsorgen in According to Swiss style Schweizer Franken. Worldwide Lifelong Possibility of free vesting: contact us ! Agentur Auslandschweizer Private medical treatment Stefan Böni Dorfstrasse 140, 8706 Meilen Free choice of doctor and clinic worldwide +41 44 925 39 39, www.swisslife.ch/aso Multilingual hotline 24h/7 days ASN, since 1991 the experts for international health insurance, partner of the best Swiss health insurance companies Contact us! Tel: +41 (0)43 399 89 89 e-mail: [email protected] www.asn.ch ASN AG Bederstrasse 51 P.O.Box 1585 CH-8027 Zurich Fax +41(0)43 399 89 88 We‘ll take you to Switzerland at the click of a mouse. Information. News. Background reports. Analysis. From Switzerland, about Switzerland. Multimedia, interactive and up to date in 9 languages. swissinfo.ch EDITORIAL CONTENTS 3 New prospects 5 olitical commentators and analysts believe that 2011 is set to be a momentous Mailbag election year for Switzerland, which may even result in far-reaching changes to the 5 Ppolitical system. The party landscape has changed enormously over the past four years. You can read about how this situation has arisen and who the new and main pro- Books: A book full of legends tagonists are from page 8 onwards. 7 The Swiss media all agree that Parliament and, even more so, the Federal Council Images: Munich retour. An exhibition at the have failed to make a good impression over recent years. Mistrust, animosity and antag- Museum of Fine Arts in Berne onism have dominated politics for long periods. Is this really the kind of government the 8 people have wanted? Of course not. This inevitably raises the question of whether the Switzerland in election year: problem lies with the present incumbents – would an infl ux of fresh faces make every- Solitary, pressured, successful thing better? Or do we perhaps need a new system? 12 Is the system of political concordance with all the major parties in government, which What do we worry about? has been in place since 1959, perhaps outdated? Does this system no longer meet the re- What can be done to allay our fears? quirements of modern times? That may well be the case. The issue is certain to be the subject of heated debate this year. In the past, political parties have on several occasions 14 threatened to leave the government and go into opposition, and the Social Democrats A living legend: Heinz Spoerli is set to step (SP) now suspect others of plotting to throw them out of government as well. down That would result in a system with a coalition government and an opposition – a sys- Regional news tem that is commonplace outside Switzerland. But is that desirable? The immediate re- sponse would be “no”, as it would obstruct our unique, highly sophisticated system of di- rect democracy with its power of referenda for parties and interest groups, with 17 federalism and cantonal majority. Such an idea is bound to provoke fear and a defensive Notes from Parliament reaction. However, it is also evident that under a system of coalition government and op- 20 position it would be much clearer who bears responsibility for what. It would prevent Barely affordable: The mobility of the Swiss parties from participating in government while behaving like the 21 opposition – an approach successfully adopted by the Swiss Peo- Referendum: Weapons to remain at home ple’s Party (SVP) for many years. Realistically, the chances of a change of system at the grand fi - 22 nale to the election year – the complete re-election of the Federal I vote! Council on 14 December – are slim. This would require the middle- 24 ground parties, the FDP and CVP, to opt for the centre-right with OSA news the SVP or the centre-left with the SP. The FDP and CVP are un- 26 likely to risk making such a move as both lack strong leaders. Barbara Engel 100 years of the Jungfrau railway Incidentally, “direct democracy in an international context” 28 will be the main theme of the Congress of the Swiss Abroad in Lugano in August. Journey of adventure and eco-project And now to matters concerning our magazine. My predecessor, Heinz Eckert, an- nounced in the last edition of “Swiss Review” that I would be taking up the position of 30 Editor-in-Chief at the beginning of the year. To produce a good magazine, we, as the ed- A new travel magazine for afi cionados itorial staff, are reliant on interaction with our readers. We cannot always know at our 31 offi ces in Switzerland which issues matter to the Swiss abroad in Berlin, Ouagadougou, Echo Shanghai or New York. I therefore welcome your suggestions, feedback and criticism, and hope this results in a fruitful exchange. BARBARA ENGEL Cover photo: The offi cial photograph of the new Federal Council. More on the photo and on the goals and policies of the Swiss government on pages 8 to 11 and 18 (Photo: donated) IMPRINT: “Swiss Review”, the magazine for the Swiss abroad, is in its 38th year of publication and is published in German, French, Italian, English and Spanish in 14 regional editions. It has a total circulation of 395,000. Regional news appears four times a year. The ordering parties are fully responsible for the content of advertisements and promotional inserts. These contents do not necessarily represent the opinion of either the editorial offi ce or the publisher. ■ EDITORS: Barbara Engel (BE), Editor-in-Chief; Rolf Ribi (RR); René Lenzin (RL); Alain Wey (AW); Jean-François Lichtenstern (JFL), responsible for “Notes from Parliament”, Service for the Swiss Abroad, DFA, CH-3003 Berne Translation: CLS Communication AG ■ L AYOUT: Herzog Design, Zurich ■ POSTAL ADDRESS: Publisher, editorial offi ce, advertising: Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, Alpenstrasse 26, CH-3006 Berne, Tel.: +41313566110, Fax: +41313566101, Postal account (Swiss National Giro): 30-6768-9. Internet: www.revue.ch ■ E-MAIL: [email protected] ■ PRINT: Swissprinters St.Gallen AG, CH-9001 St.Gallen. ■ CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please advise your local embassy or consulate. Do not write to Berne. ■ All Swiss abroad who are regis- tered with a Swiss representation receive the magazine free of charge. Anyone else can subscribe to the magazine for an annual fee (Switzerland: CHF 30 / abroad: CHF 50). Subscribers are sent SWISS REVIEW March 2011 / No. 2 No. / SWISS 2011 REVIEW March the magazine direct from Berne. Copy deadline for this edition: 07.02.11 4 OBITUARY Luginbühl›s “Pandora” in fl ames at the “Balls with wheel and chain” Albisgüetli in Zurich in 1998 Iron sculptor Bernhard and from then onwards al- produced a vast collection of ways worked as a freelance works, an impression of which Luginbühl has passed away artist. can be obtained at his sculpture He always enjoyed shocking people with His unmistakeable sculp- park in Mötschwil near Burg- both his words and his works. He gave his tures are gigantic works dorf. He also destroyed many of sculptures names like “Rage”, “Aggression” made from iron, waste his works over the years, often and “Atlas” and did not shy away from play- products of heavy industry. burning them in staged art ing the maladjusted fi ghter on the art scene. One art critic once called events. He once said of himself The iron sculptor Bernhard Luginbühl them a “farewell to the in- and his art: “I produce sculp- passed away on 19 February at the age of 82. dustrial age”. In his art, tures, write books, draw and all Luginbühl was born on 16 February 1929 in Luginbühl combined the that stuff. The worst thing for Berne. His father was a butcher, but Bern- constructive with the me is that I still get very bored.” hard decided at a young age not to take over dadaistic and surreal and, together with Dan- He can’t really have expected anyone to be- his father’s business and to become an artist iel Spoerri and Jean Tinguely, was part of the lieve him. BE instead. He did an apprenticeship as a sculp- Swiss avant-garde in the 1960s which at- tor at the School of Applied Arts in Berne tracted international attention. Luginbühl Sculpture park: www.luginbuehlstiftung.ch Advertisement 0ENSIONORCAPITAL2ENTEN4)0DQG 9OURINDIVIDUALNEEDSANDEXPECTATIONSARETHEBENCHMARK FOROURINVESTMENTSTRATEGY2ENTEN4)0)TYIELDSACURRENT REGULARINCOMEFROMTHEINVESTEDCAPITALFORYOUDURINGTHE TIMEPERIODYOUDEFINE ,ETUSKNOWYOURFINANCIALREQUIREMENTSANDWEWILLOFFER YOUATAILOR MADESOLUTION 7EARELOOKINGFORWARDTOHEARINGFROMYOUÜ 02/4)0!' -EMBEROF #( )SLIKON 4ELEPHONE )NTERNETWWWPROTIPCH % MAILINFO PROTIPCH WWWPROSALISCH MAILBAG BOOKS 5 switzerland is full of legends – Open letter to THE MAGAZINE FOR THE SWISS ABROAD you only issue one mythical exploits, fantasti- Credit Suisse statement at year- cal creatures, talking animals, wizards, goddesses and curses. JANUARY 2011 / NO. 1 Dear Sirs, end. I have since Every canton has its share. Some tell of their mythical founda- As you will be learned that these tion and others of the exploits of their heroes. The book able to confi rm, I measures were “Suisse: 26 cantons, 26 légendes” (Switzerland: 26 cantons, was the holder of a taken to ensure 26 legends) invites readers to explore the fantastical stories savings account, complete transpar- which, for some, remain important symbolically or for tourism which I have just Switzerland is dependent ency towards the on foreigners Is the Federal Council in need closed for obvious of better organisation? countries where purposes. A commentary containing information on origin, Ice hockey: a passion that goes back 100 years reasons. This ac- your clients abroad meaning and historical context follows each story.