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Main article: Population of Switzerland
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Parliament
2023: Swiss parliament votes against re-exporting arms to Ukraine
In May 2023, the Swiss parliament voted against re-exporting weapons to Ukraine.
98 members of the lower house voted against, for - 75, reports Stuttgarter Zeitung. The initiative was removed from the agenda, third countries cannot send Swiss equipment and ammunition to combat zones.
2022: Proportion of women in Parliament
Government
Relations with the EU
2021: Switzerland refuses to modernize relations with the EU
In May 2021, Switzerland refused to modernize relations with the EU. This means that negotiations, which have lasted since 2014, to develop one agreement instead of more than 120 bilateral treaties between Switzerland and the EU, ended in nothing.
The main barriers to consent were three key points: wage protection, aid rules state and access for EU citizens to Swiss social benefits. According to them, the countries were closest to concluding an agreement (the framework agreement was drawn up in 2018).
The unique state of relations between the EU and Switzerland has long been a concern in Brussels. Anxiety was heightened after Brexit as Europe she feared she might Britain claim the Swiss model of relations - the extraction of all the benefits of the single market without subordination to the official structures of the EU.
EU representatives expressed regret at Switzerland's decision to stop negotiations and said that without this framework agreement, modernization of current relations would be impossible.
In particular, the European Union will no longer automatically recognize the Swiss registration of medicines, negotiations on Switzerland's admission to the European electricity market are terminated.
The reaction of Swiss political forces is heterogeneous - for example, the largest right-wing People's Party of Switzerland welcomes the government's decision and sees it as a "victory for Swiss sovereignty and direct democracy." Most parties complain about the government's inability to reach a compromise with the EU.
Swiss unions, which were particularly concerned about protecting domestic salaries from short-term competition with the EU, welcomed the news.
Health care
2020: Duration of guaranteed paid sick leave less than a month
2019: High proportion of doctors over 55
2018: 22.5% of women smoke tobacco
Disease statistics
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inEconomy
Main article: Swiss economy
Armed Forces
2023: Sale of military equipment to EU countries as a replacement for their supplies to Ukraine
In August 2023, documents from the Swiss Foreign Ministry on ways to supply weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine appeared on the Internet. As the warehouses of European countries were exhausted, the EU repeatedly raised the issue of possible re-export of Swiss military-industrial complex products, but Bern refused to take such a step, motivating it with a policy of neutrality.
According to the published data, the country has found a way out of the situation in the form of a "ring exchange" mechanism. According to it, Switzerland will send property not to Ukraine, but to replenish their arsenals of European states. In practice, this will look like this: for example, Latvia transfers armored vehicles to the Kyiv regime, and in return receives a Swiss-made Piranha III infantry fighting vehicle.
Such an approach, at least at first glance, does not contradict the local legislated neutrality and allows freeing up additional reserves of European countries for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And Switzerland also gets the opportunity to earn money by selling weapons that the EU gives to Ukrainians for nothing.
In November 2023, the Swiss government again approved the sale of Rheinmetall 25 Leopard 2A4 tanks previously in storage to the German concern. Under the terms of the deal, the machines cannot be transferred to Ukraine and must remain either in Germany or with other partners from among the countries. NATO
In fact, the government in Bern again resorts to the "ring exchange" scheme, which provides for indirect participation in the supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Similarly, negotiations were underway in August to send 96 Swiss Leopard 1A5 GR tanks to Greece. In return, the Greeks had to transfer 100 machines of this type to the Ukrainian formations, and the deal was also financed by Germany.
Such a mechanism de jure does not violate the neutrality enshrined in Swiss law and allows you to profit from the export of weapons.
2019:64 fighter planes
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2022
50.4% of the population believes in life after death
29% of the population attends divine services at least once a month
2021:9% of the population say religion is important in their lives
Crime
2021: Number of intentional murders
andPrisons
2022: Minimum age for children to be jailed
Sport
2022
Tennis player Roger Federer's records
The most popular sport is football
History
2022: Imposition of sanctions against Russia after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine and blocking 13 billion francs, including 7 billion in the reserves and assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
On March 4, 2022, against the background of a special operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Switzerland imposed sanctions against Russia. Transactions with the Bank of Russia are prohibited, as well as the export of dual-use goods, products and services in the oil sector. The country joined the EU sanctions against the Russian financial sector and personal restrictions on Russians.
Switzerland, due to sanctions, blocked $6.8 billion in Russian assets by early July 2022, the Swiss Secretariat of State for Economics said in a statement.
In Switzerland, Russian assets worth almost $8 billion have been frozen, the country's Ministry of Economy said on December 1, 2022.
Later, in April 2024, it became known that Switzerland blocked Russian assets of 13 billion francs ($14.3 billion), including more than 7 billion francs in the reserves and assets of the Russian Central Bank.
Switzerland has so far repeated EU sanctions against Russia. The decision has sparked controversy in the historically neutral country.
2001: Refusal to join the EU
1985: Gorbachev and Reagan Meet
1946
1932
1700
Main article: 1700
1618
1610: Witch Hunt
1240: As part of the Holy Roman Empire
The empire throughout its history (962-1806) remained a decentralized entity with a complex feudal hierarchical structure, uniting several hundred territorial-state entities. At the head of the empire was the emperor. The imperial title was not hereditary, but was awarded following the election of the electors by the college. The power of the emperor was never absolute and was limited to the highest aristocracy of Germany, and from the end of the 15th century - the Reichstag, representing the interests of the main classes of the empire.
600g
7.5 thousand hp: Mining of rock crystal and quartz
In Switzerland, melting ice has opened up new evidence of human life for scientists. Scientists have found an outlet for rock crystal and quartz, around which traces of human residence were found.
It is noted that traces of mineral extraction were found - chipped unsuitable fragments and tools with which crystals were processed. Radiocarbon analysis helped determine the age of the finds - from 7.5 to 8 thousand years BC.
Other artifacts turned out to be 2 thousand years younger. Among the finds were deer horn, wood fragments and roe deer horn.