The autumn parliamentary session continues. Key decisions taken today concern naturalisation, space policy, disturbances during demonstrations and the “Swiss Made” label.
Like the House of Representatives in April, the Senate today rejected the Democracy Initiative by 34 votes to nine, with two abstentions. The initiative calls for the current ten-year legal residence requirement for Swiss citizenship to be halved. Contrary to the wishes of the left-green bloc, lawmakers also decided not to draw up a counter-proposal.
The House of Representatives has taken a step towards bringing more order to the cosmos, unanimously adopting a new law on space operations that, among other things, regulates the operational requirements for Swiss satellites for the first time.
The Senate also followed the House of Representative’s lead by approving a motion allowing public authorities, in cases of serious disturbances and acts of violence during demonstrations, to recover all or part of the costs of intervention and security measures from organisers. The government is now tasked with preparing the necessary legal framework.
By approving a motion tabled by Centre Party Senator Fabio Regazzi, the Senate has also called for stronger protection of the “Swiss Made” label. The request seeks to overturn a recent decision by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) which authorised the sportswear brand On to use the Swiss cross on products manufactured in Asia.
The media are also continuing to discuss the decision taken yesterday by the Senate to require UBS to back 90% of its foreign branches with equity capital. Contrary to what was reported in yesterday’s press review, UBS shares closed 1.71% lower on Wednesday.