Government is ready to ‘intervene’ if Swiss-German cantons abandon French lessons from their school curriculum, the president of France is unhappy about Geneva’s decision regarding cross-border students; and more news in our roundup on Thursday.
Government ‘ready to intervene’ if Swiss-German cantons abolish French lessons in primary schools
Zurich wants to scrap French lessons from its elementary school curriculum, and a number of German-speaking cantons have already done so.
The Federal Council, however, is against this trend, reiterating its commitment to early exposure of school children in Switzerland to multilingualism – especially to a national language that is not their mother tongue.
Ministers said they are “ready to intervene” if cantons don’t respect “the fundamental principles of Swiss language policy, in the interest of national cohesion.”
And speaking of schools…
French president criticised the exclusion of cross-border schoolchildren from Geneva schools
From 2026, children of cross-border commuters from France will no longer be able to attend Geneva schools – as has been the case until now.
The displeasure over this decision, made by Geneva’s education authorities, spread far beyond the French communities closest to the Swiss border – making its way to Paris.
According to the Tribune de Genève, Emmanuel Macron told Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter that he is not happy about Geneva’s “unilateral and discriminatory” measure.
In response, however, Keller-Sutter reportedly told Macron that in Switzerland, education is a cantonal matter, in which the federal government cannot intervene.
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Swiss government prepares for the consequences of US tariffs, focusing on short-time work
To help export-oriented sectors withstand US trade tariffs, the Federal Council decided on Wednesday to support a parliamentary initiative for the urgent extension of short-time work benefits – a temporary reduction or complete suspension of work due to difficult circumstances – with the compensation amounting to 80 percent of the lost of earnings.
“Short-time work is a proven instrument for mitigating the consequences of economic downturns and protecting threatened jobs,” the government said.
In such situations, unemployment insurance covers companies affected by short-time work for a proportion of their salary costs for a certain period.
The aim is to prevent redundancies resulting from unusual events – such as the Covid pandemic five years ago, and 39-percent customs duties currently.
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Reminder: Swiss Post resumes shipments of (some) packages to the US
On August 26th, the Swiss Post had stopped accepting shipments to the United States, following President Donald Trump’s executive order abolishing the exemption limit of $800 for goods imported into the USA .
However, from today, September 4th “private individuals will able to send gift consignments of up to $100 (equivalent 80 francs) addressed exclusively to private individuals,” the Swiss Post said, adding that electronic devices or electronic data carriers cannot be included in packages.
Gifts with a value of more than $100 (80 francs) are still not permitted for the time being.
Express delivery with FedEx or Express Swiss Post remains the only option.
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