After France, youth strikes will take place in Switzerland in November; SBB suspends its ads promoting Paris as a ‘love’ destination; plus other news in our roundup this Wednesday.
After France, youth strikes are planned for Switzerland in November
Two representatives of the youth wing of Swiss Social Democratic party (Jusos) took part in the demonstrations in Paris. Now, they are planning a similar strike in several Swiss cities on November 20th.
“We will be protesting against the militarisation and austerity policies in Europe,” they said.
However, unlike the devastation wrought by the rioters in France, no similarly destructive riots are planned for Switzerland, because “we are dealing with a completely different situation here.”
Don’t miss our journalists’ daily news roundup from Switzerland
And speaking of Paris…
SBB suspends its ads promoting Paris as a ‘love’ destination
The Swiss national railway company, which operates several TGV lines between Switzerland and Paris jointly with France’s SNCF, has been running various ads on social media encouraging travel to “The City of Love and romantic strolls along the Seine.”
But given the chaos that is reigning in the French capital right now due to riots, the SBB withdrew these adverts this week.
“In light of current events, the SBB decided to temporarily halt advertising for Paris,” the company’s spokesperson explained.
The trains continue to operate according to schedule, however.
Ticino village offers unusual financial perks to attract new residents
Due to significant outward migration, the population of Onsernone Valley near Locarno has dwindled to just 600, but now unconventional measures are being deployed to help ‘repopulate’ the village.
Like another Swiss community, Albinen, did a decade ago, Onserone’s officials are offering new arrivals ‘relocation’ grants of as-yet undisclosed amount, along with free (Italian) language courses to facilitate better integration of people coming from Switzerland’s other linguistic regions.
But that’s not all: to boost the birth rate and ensure new pupils for the local school – which now counts only 13 students – the village will also provide grants of 5,000 francs to couples who require in-vitro fertilisation.
Amid housing shortage, vast majority of single-family homes in Switzerland are under-occupied
According to a report, among reasons for the scarcity of residential housing is that nearly three out of four homes in Switzerland – that is, hundreds of thousands of houses – are not fully occupied.
They have, on average, at least two rooms standing empty.
The aging of homeowners partly explains this phenomenon: after their children have moved out, many people remain in their homes – often because renting a smaller apartment would actually cost them more.
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at news@thelocal.ch
