Foreign resident wins court battle for Swiss citizenship; Zurich is faced with the shortage of 300,000 workers; and more news in our roundup on Monday.
Aargau resident wins court battle for Swiss citizenship
A foreign resident living in the canton of Aargau has won in court against his commune’s refusal for naturalisation, Swiss media reported.
The court has referred the case back to the municipal council with the clear instruction to grant the man his citizenship, as he fulfils all the legal requirements.
According to the court, the naturalisation commission had asked the man, a citizen of Kosovo, “numerous arbitrary questions” that should not have been asked as part of the naturalisation process – in all, 23 out of 48 questions were found to be inadmissible.
READ MORE: How your Swiss commune plays a key role in your citizenship application
In future, canton Zurich could be short of 300,000 workers
This is the scenario predicted by the canton’s officials.
The reason for the increasing labour shortage is the demographic change: People are getting older, while the birth rate is falling.
Further, “the number of people of retirement age is growing significantly faster than the number of those of working age,” the canton said in a press release.
“Without countermeasures, the canton of Zurich could face a shortage of up to 300,000 workers by 2050, while the financial burden for pensions, healthcare, and long-term care increases,” authorities added.
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Switzerland’s housing shortage is expected to worsen
The federal government anticipates a deterioration of the housing shortage over the next two years, according to Martin Tschirren, director of the Federal Housing Office.
Among the reasons for the pessimistic outlook, he said, are demographic shifts, including population growth due to immigration, along with the insufficient supply of existing stock coupled with the weak construction activity of new residential buildings.
READ MORE: How Switzerland’s urban housing shortage is spreading to the countryside
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Zurich Parliament rejects stricter anti-crack enforcement rules
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has been urging Zurich municipal authorities to crack down on open cocaine use, arguing that “with consistent identity checks and expulsions, the problem of the open crack scene would have been solved long ago.”
However, the deputies turned down this motion by a vote of 98 to 22.
The majority of MPs opposed the move toward “criminalising addicts” on the grounds that “they are, in fact, sick people who need help” rather than repression.
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