Swiss Citizenship Rules Revised; Takeaway Concept to Roll out at Supermarkets; Deadly Accident at Air Show; Duty Free Zone for Basel Proposed

News For 25 August 2015   As reported in the Swiss Daily 20 Minuten magazine,  in June 2014, Swiss citizenship requirements were tightened allowing only those with permanent residency permits (e.g. a C permit) to apply, excluding anyone on a different permit such as a B permit. Yesterday the federal council issued a proposed ordinance which tightens requirements further.  People receiving social assistance and a wider range of law breakers are set to be excluded from seeking Swiss nationality if the proposed ordinance passes a consultation which is open until 19 November 2015.  The new ordinance requires applicants to be financially independent and specifies that anyone receiving social assistance within three years of applying or during the application process, which can take several years, will have their application rejected.  In addition, the checks on law breaking will be wider. Currently a conviction excludes an applicant, however only judicial records available to the public are checked. The new rules will allow access to digital legal records presently available only to “competent authorities”.  The new law also requires proof of mastery of the local language. The federal council proposes a minimum level of B1 in oral and A2 in written as defined by the Common European Reference Framework for Languages. Exceptions will be made for those who come from countries with a shared language.  The good news for some is that the changes from June 2014 will reduce residency requirements from 12 to 10 years for those who qualify – these changes have passed into law but they are not yet active.     **********************************

Coop launches takeaway stores hot on the tail of Migros, which launched one in Bern last week.  According to Coop more and more people are eating neither in a restaurant nor at home, choosing instead to eat takeaways. The supermarket has decided to open stores under the brand “Coop to go” to cater to this growing demand. The first store was opened in Zurich’s main train station on Wednesday and will be followed by 49 others to be opened over the next five years. Further stores are planned in Zurich and Zug next year with nothing yet in the pipeline for French-speaking Switzerland.  Coop is targeting mainly young people. In 2014 the Swiss spent CHF 2.6 billion on takeaway food.  Migros, the largest retailer in Switzerland, has not overlooked this growing market. A new Migros “My Way” store opened last week in Bern and a “Migro-Express” opened recently in the centre of Fribourg. Both stores are based on a similar concept. Rather than applying a national formula, Migros is allowing its 10 regional cooperatives to develop their own concepts tailored to their local markets.

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A pilot died when two aircraft collided on Sunday at an airshow near Basel.  The accident occurred around 11.30am at Dittingen, a Basel suburb, the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger said on its website.  Just before the crash three C42B-type planes, part of a German group called the "Grasshoppers", were flying when two of them collided for reasons that remain unknown, a police statement said.  The 50-year-old pilot of one of the planes died in the accident after his plane crashed into a barn.  The pilot of the other plane was able to escape by parachute and was uninjured. His plane crashed on the outskirts of the village.  No one was injured on the ground.  An investigation has been opened into the reasons for the crash.  The air show in Dittingen has been in existence for over 60 years and draws hundreds of pilots from Switzerland and abroad, organizers said.   In 2005 a fatal accident occurred at the same show, according to the Swiss news agency ATS.

**************************************   A representative to Basel's Grossrat, Heinrich Uberwasser has submitted a written request for the Basel government to study and consider the idea of creating a duty free trade and shopping zone within the borders of BaselStadt.  After years of watching declining sales afflicting local vendors and commercial enterprises caused by a strengthening Swiss franc, and the proximity to shopping in nearby German and French towns, Mr Uberwasser proposed his novel idea.  Switzerland generally has some limited experience with such arrangements near the borders with Austria, where commerce in the duty-free zones was boosted.  The government will now consider the possible impact from such a scheme, before presenting a proposal which would also require the assent of the federal government that relies on taxes collected in Basel.