Poverty level among people with immigrant background has dropped; EU doesn’t recognise Emmentaler cheese as Swiss; and more news in our roundup on Friday.
There are fewer poor people among residents with migrant background
People who have a migrant background are more likely to be exposed to financial difficulties than Swiss nationals, according to data published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Thursday.
In 2023, for instance, their median annual disposable income was nearly 5,000 francs lower than that of people without a migrant background.
That gap, however, is gradually narrowing, particularly with regard to the poverty rate among this group: it fell from 11.4 percent in 2021 to 9.1 percent in 2023, the FSO reported.
It is now approaching the rate for the population without a migrant background, which stands at 7.8 percent.
Swiss Emmentaler producers are cheesed off with the European Commission
The European Commission does not want to recognise the trademark “Emmentaler” for the famous Swiss cheese.
The ‘Emmentaler Switzerland’ professional association has therefore filed a lawsuit against this refusal at the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg, Swiss media reported on Thursday.
The group seeks to ensure that the name ‘Emmentaler’ stands exclusively for the cheese manufactured in Switzerland’s Emmental Valley, and nowhere else.
The European Commission, however, has refused to protect the name since January 2025, justifying its decision by stating that the name is historically and culturally linked to a wider geographical area than just Switzerland: in fact, it is considered a generic name in the EU.
It is this decision that cheese manufacturers are currently appealing.
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Government issues warning about the import of fireworks
Ahead of the National Day on August 1st, the government is reminding the public that bringing fireworks from abroad requires an import permit issued by the Federal Office of Police (fedpol).
This also applies to products ordered online.
Importing pyrotechnic entertainment devices up to a total gross weight of 2.5 kg per person without a permit is allowed, provided these devices are not prohibited in Switzerland.
“The fact that fireworks may be imported does not necessarily mean that they may also be used on Swiss soil — for instance, because of a fire hazard due to drought,” the government said.
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Increasingly more people in Switzerland are travelling by train
Passenger rail traffic in Switzerland has reached a new record in the second quarter of 2025.
Nearly 6 billion ‘passenger kilometres’ were travelled in Switzerland between April and end of June — a new quarterly record, the Public Transport Information Service (Litra) reported on Thursday.
Compared to the first quarter of 2025, the increase reached 8.6 percent. This represents a 3.6-percent hike year-on-year.
“This record underlines the lasting appeal of public transport in Switzerland and shows that the rail service is increasingly meeting the growing mobility needs of the population,” Litra said.
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