GstaadLife

 
In Sunday's nationwide vote regarding new measures for tighter gun control, 20 of 26 cantons and 56.3% of voters rejected the proposal to no longer allow current and former military personnel to keep their weapons at home.  The table above shows how gun-mad Saanenland is, with over 77% of local residents in favor the keeping of weapons at home. Interestingly Geneva was one of the few cantons which voted in favor of the plan. There are an estimated 2 to 3 million guns in Switzerland (nobody knows exactly how many because there is no national registry of fire arms), and soldiers have been allowed to keep their weapons at home since World War II. This vote ensures that this militia tradition will continue, and will probably also mean Switzerland will maintain its place at the top of another less desirable ranking: the number one country in Europe for gun-related suicide.

 
by Niki Rommel

This initiative on which Swiss citizens will vote February 13th wants to replace the existing permit and control system for firearms with a new one yet to be created. At present all citizens who have to do military service keep their personal army weapons (rifles or guns) at their home. According to the stipulation of the initiative the approximately 220’000 army weapons would newly have to be deposited in one of the national arsenals and all of the roughly 2 million existing firearms in Switzerland would have to be registered by the Confederation and no longer by the Cantons. In addition to that the initiative demands that proof be given for the necessity to possess firearms and the capability to handle them proficiently.

This past weekend the Swiss voted "yes" to an amendment of the constitution that will see the expulsion of foreigners convicted of certain serious crimes. Nationwide 52.9% supported the measure and in the region Obersimmental-Saanenland it was as high as 68.1%. Say what you like about the measure: perhaps it's not such a bad idea. But can't we skip the polemic re-run of the racist posters, promo that was criticized by the UN on its first outing? And then the Swiss wonder why they are sometimes seen abroad to be less than open to foreigners. Above, one of the top stories last night on the website of new newspaper ARA.cat in Barcelona (that ran right up there next to the main headline of Barca's 5-0 thrashing of Madrid).

 
by Niki Rommel

On November 28th the Swiss are voting on a public initiative launched by the Swiss Popular Party (SVP) aiming to add provisions to the Swiss constitution that enable the automatic expulsion of foreigners residing in Switzerland who have been convicted of one or more clearly-defined serious criminal offenses. Under the present laws expulsions under certain circumstances are left to the discretion of judicial authorities. The political opponents of this initiative and certain journalists claim that automatic expulsion mutilates the claim for free movement and violates the freedom given to foreigners to emigrate to and settle in Switzerland. I have no affiliation to any political party but disagree with this criticism. The right to settle in Switzerland is at the outset linked to the condition that immigrants respect our laws and integrate themselves into the local environment. Having been convicted of serious criminal offenses means they will have certainly spent time in jail (at the taxpayer’s expense!), but the moral offense of having not respected our laws is not wiped out. These foreigners must therefore assume their responsibility and accept the automatic expulsion from our country. If I offend the wife or children of my host he will throw me out and understandably not invite me again; but with that he has not mutilated my freedom.

It’s not been a good year or so for Chalberhöni: back in Christmas 2008 there was the total destruction of a chalet due to fire, and now the flash floods of July 10 have left the village completely cut off from the rest of Saanenland (see pictures below and for more click here). For the Restaurant Waldmatte in Chalberhöni the suffering is only just beginning, though. No damage was caused due to the flooding but now that the road up to Chalberhöni is completely impassable there is only a footpath to bring customers... and those are, well, scarce. So make the effort and take the Rübeldorf-Belmunt trail up from Saanen or come down from the Eggli and pay them a visit.

What a storm! Saturday afternoon July 11 around 16h a huge storm of seemingly apocalyptic proportions struck Saanenland causing serious flooding and damage throughout the region. By far the worst hit was Rüblidorf just above Saanen, where the Chalberhönibach (the normally small river coming down from Chalberhöni) unleashed a wave of destruction, bringing down from the high alps trees, containers, and even a car or two as it paid a visit to many of the homes around the school in Saanen. Anything with a cellar was left awash in a foot of mud, the road to Chalberhöni was washed away in some sections, and the recently completed football field in Saanen was very badly damaged. Thankfully nobody was injured but see the destruction for yourself by clicking here. 

The federation of trade unions of canton Bern has launched an initiative for fair taxes for families. The center piece of their initiative: the abolition of the flat-rate tax, or Pauschalsteuer, which is paid by wealthy foreigners who reside in Switzerland. They are collecting signatures and hope for a vote in 2011.

Here in Saanenland this has caused an uproar, since it is here that most of the people who are eligible for this tax live. But it's not just the rich who are up in arms. Across the community in Saanenland, many are against the abolition of this rather unusual tax structure (at least when compared to other European countries). Simply put, it allows wealthy foreigners to pay a fixed rate of tax irrespective of often considerable income which is loosely based on the rental value of owned property (and the quality of your negotiation skills with the local authorities).

But despite seeming regressive and unfair, ordinary folks in Saanen are largely against the abolition of the tax as they fear an outflow of chalet owners and a halt in the inflow of those considering to move here. Indeed local businesses fear the loss of up to SFr 20 million from the local economy as well as the disappearance of 1,500 jobs. There was even a delegation from Saanenland in Bern the other day protesting to the powers that be not to endorse the abolition of the tax (photo album here).

It was also the topic of hot debate at a local town hall meeting in Saanen last week, where various ideas and compromises were discussed by community members, including the possibility of changing the formula for calculating the tax from today's level of five times the rental value of the owned property to 7 times. We'll keep you posted on this hottest of local topics. If your read German, check out some of the comments made by the people of Saanenland on our sister website Anzeiger von Saanen.

 
This past Friday evening we stopped by Brot Bar on the way home to pick up a loaf of one of those very good (and at 18h30 still warm) paillasse dunkels. As we walked in, to our right under the Anzeiger TV screen, the corner was piled high with photo and video equipment, the place was rammed with people who wear fluorescent jackets and drive white vans, the coffee machine was running on overtime, and the whole place had the nervous buzz of a newsroom on a mission. Thing was, the mission had largely been a failure. Of course, they were all there for the shot of Roman Polanski arriving back in Gstaad for his period of house arrest as he awaits the outcome of extradition proceedings. But having spent much of the past days trapsing through neighboring gardens off the Grubenstrasse, all they left with were cold feet and the distinct feeling that they weren't very welcome. It is said that the right shot could have fetched hundreds of thousands of francs, but it's hard to feel sorry for them - moreso for their families maybe. Anyway, what do you think about this whole Polanski thing...

They say money makes the world go round. And around and around till the people who have it find a place where they don't have to spend so much of it on income tax. Saanenland is one such place. Canton Bern, however, is currently discussing plans to scrap the so-called "Pauschalsteuer" tax breaks for foreigners, an increasingly popular passtime in helvetic government chambers in light of the global economic environment, increased scrutiny on Switzerland as a tax haven, and cantons that have already voted to strike down these tax deals, such as Canton Zurich. And since half of the 160 people who profit from these special tax treaties in Canton Bern actually live in Saanenland, the discussion has taken over local discourse. Notably Gemeinde president Aldo Kropf is for the special tax deals, probably a sensible position to take given that SFr 4 million of the SFr 12 million francs which are earned every year in the canton go to the communes. In other words, it's better to create a win-win situation for foreigners who want to live and pay tax here or they will simply end up paying it somewhere else. Opponents, especially Swiss people, argue the deals are unfair, with wealthy individuals basically free to propose their own tax regime to the local authorities based loosely on property-related formulae, leaving ordinary income earners paying a much higher proportion of their earnings than foreigners with Pauschalsteuer agreements. So what do you think...

by Taki Theodoracopulos

When Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet committed suicide just before Christmas, I hoped against hope that others would do the same. No such luck. Villehuchet was an aristocrat, a gentleman and an honest man. He felt responsible for the loss of $1.4 billion and he took the honourable way out. I did not know Villehuchet but people who did have spoken very highly of him. The rest of Madoff’s gang I do know, and they are as likely to do the honourable thing as I am to emigrate to Israel. Most of these friends of Madoff own chalets in Gstaad, or visit regularly. I have warned personnel at the Gstaad Palace, the Yacht Club and the Eagle Club that if I come across any of them there will be fisticuffs. Not that any of them would fight. People like that rarely do.