Parliamentary motion seeks to obligate some dual citizens to serve in the Swiss army
Swiss government considers residents who have a citizenship of Switzerland and another country as Swiss. The only exception (sometimes) relates to their military service.
Once they become Swiss citizens and are between the ages of 18 and 30, they can expect to be conscripted, except if they had already served in the armed forces of their country of origin.
A Swiss MP, however, wants to tighten this rule: he had submitted a parliamentary motion seeking to impose Swiss service on dual citizens whose military stint abroad was not up to Switzerland’s standards in terms of intensity and duration.
READ ALSO: Will dual citizens have to do military service in Switzerland?
Swiss healthcare is out-performing other countries’, international ranking shows
Switzerland’s health system got high scores in a new OECD study, which measured the health outcomes and care experiences of patients in various countries.
For instance, in terms of quality and access to treatment, as well as personalised care, patients with both physical and mental ailments reported a satisfaction level that exceeded that of other OECD countries which participated in the survey.
READ ALSO: Just how good is Switzerland’s healthcare?
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Scandals rock the Defence Ministry
Switzerland’s Defence Department has been surrounded by controversy and scandals in the recent weeks.
They started with the sudden resignation of the Defence Minister, who blamed “the growing polarisation, the spreading spitefulness in political discourse” for her decision to step down.
Next, two top department employees — the army chief and the head of intelligance unit — also resigned amid a scandal that erupted over fraudulent activities of a military contractor.
It is being alleged that a former executive allegedly sought to line his own pockets by reselling spare parts for Leopard tanks, and the company may have also used spare parts from the consignment warehouse owned by the armed forces for its own business with third parties.
READ ALSO: What is the scandal shaking up Switzerland’s Defence Department all about
Switzerland could come out unscathed from Trump’s trade war
US president Donald Trump is threatening to impose 25-percent tariffs on imports from the European Union.
However, Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who also acts as the country’s Finance Minister, said she is confident that Switzerland will not be caught in the crossfire of the looming trade war between Washington and Brussels.
“According to my current information, there should be no consequences for Switzerland,” said Keller-Sutter, who is currently attending the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers in South Africa.
READ ALSO: Why the US-EU trade war is ‘not a problem for Switzerland’
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Swiss hospital ranked in the top-10 best in the world
In a new survey published by Newsweek magazine in the United States, Zurich’s University Hospital (USZ) is in the 10th place in the ranking of the world’s top-rated hospitals.
It is also number 1 in Switzerland.
According to Newsweek, which carried out the survey together with the global data platform Statista, “the assessment considers performance in five categories: provision of care, timeliness of care, patient experience and safety, IT and health care technology, and employer attractiveness.”
The USZ scored highly in all the categories.
READ ALSO: Why is Zurich’s University Hospital among the world’s best?
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