Schattengefecht um Schweizer Digitaldepartement : entscheidend ist nicht die Form, sondern die Umsetzungskapazität

The experience of various European countries shows that it is not the name of a new governmental unit or its place in the organisational chart that matter. The decisive factor is its ability to implement digital transformation in the country’s public administration. Yet, in Switzerland, the current debate is about whether a state secretariat or a federal office for cybersecurity is needed and to which ministry the new entity should belong. We argue that this debate distracts from more important questions, such as what resources, competencies, and leverage the new authority will need to work with cantons, municipalities, and the private sector to bring about the country’s digital transformation. This article is based, among other things, on interviews we conducted with Estonian government officials. The aim was to identify the lessons learned by Estonia and what exactly Switzerland can learn from them. Estonia is one of the world’s leading nations in digital government and has achieved a level that Switzerland will reach in about 10 years at best

Common frameworks in Switzerland : cantonal autonomy in a confederation

Since the founding of the modern state of Switzerland in 1848, Switzerland is a confederation of 26 relative autonomous cantons. In contrast to other federations, the Swiss cantons are the units that give competences to the federal level and not the other way around. The allocation of competences and responsibilities between the three levels of government (national, cantonal and communal) is a complex system, which forms the backbone of Swiss style federalism. As a result of a comprehensive reform project entitled “national fiscal equalization” (NFE), in effect since 2008, a wide range of mechanism for task allocations have been defined more clearly. With the NFE, the federation and the cantons are obliged to revise the actual allocation of responsibilities every four years

Start ins schweizerisch-japanische Jubiläumsjahr 2014 in Winterthur

Mit einem Symposium haben weit über 200 Gäste aus Bildung, Politik und Wirtschaft das 150. Jubiläum der guten Beziehungen zwischen der Schweiz und Japan gefeiert

International negotiations in the digital age

This symposium aims to shed light on how the new digital options are changing international negotiations. What formats are most likely to prevail in the age of digital diplomacy? What differences are emerging in how the private and public sectors are approaching the digital transformation? Are the two sectors aligning, or are they in fact becoming even more separate in how they are reorganising themselves to succeed in the digital age

Zeit für Standardlösungen in der Schweizer Europapolitik

Der Versuch das bilaterale Verhältnis Schweiz-EU mit einem Rahmenabkommen zu regeln ist endgültig gescheitert. Für diese massgeschneiderte Sonderlösung gab es in der Schweizer Regierung keine Mehrheit. Nun verbleiben für eine Weiterentwicklung der Beziehungen noch zwei Standardlösungen: Ein EU- oder ein EWR-Beitritt

Weshalb russische Exporte auf dem Weg in die Schweiz massenhaft verschwinden

2019 hat Russland angegeben, Waren im Wert von 3,67 Mia. US-Dollar in die Schweiz exportiert zu haben. Laut Schweizer Zollverwaltung sind davon 450 Mio. US-Dollar in der Schweiz angekommen. Das gibt eine Differenz von 3,2 Milliarden US-Dollar, oder eine Abweichung von 711%. Diese in einer neu erstellten Spiegelstatistik ersichtliche massive Diskrepanz ist keine Ausnahme, sondern entspricht dem langjährigen Muster russischer Exporte Richtung Schweiz