Talk:Switzerland/Archive 4

Swiss Sports
Does anyone know the name of the Swiss Sport which is similar to golf? I've seen it played but can't remember the name of it. One person hits a ball off a tee using what looks like a cork on the end of a fishing rod. A number of other people then wait in the distance with wooden bats and try to hit the ball before it hits the ground. Any Swiss people out there who know what this is ?


 * Ouch! That comparison with Golf really hurts. Hornussen is very different. Lupo 07:49, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

International co-operation
I think the fact that Switzerland didn't become a member of the UN until 2002 says a lot about the country not wanting to commit itself. One should consider changing the formulation "The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international co-operation, as it is home to many international organizations."
 * well, it's in the UN now. But "international cooperation" could indeed be further specified. dab 17:07, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * don't omit that Switzerland is not yet a member of the European Union!

The above line was written by User:212.254.98.175. I reverted your changes to Switzerland as most of the points, while not wrong, are already covered in the article or in sub-articles. For example Switzerland mentions the EU aspect, while the main article Economy of Switzerland lists its industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments. Furthermore I disagree that most speak English, from my recent first hand experience. Many young urban Swiss may speak English, but not the older Swiss and those outside the main centres. -Wikibob | Talk 01:31, 2004 Oct 11 (UTC)


 * agree. we don't need to repeat the average canton size either. It may be worth noting that english plays an increasingly important role, particularly in urban centers, that even threatens traditional swiss multi-lingualism (i.e. young french & german speakers are increasingly likely to communicate in english rather than in either french or german). Switzerland's insularity in the EU however can well be mentioned, as it's becoming the primary focus of questions of external policy. The Economy section has "although Sw is not pursuing membership", as it were presupposing the reader knows it's not a member. But "not yet" implies future membership, which is of course controversial. dab 07:43, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)


 * English might play an increasingly important role but is far from worth mentioning in an encyclopedia as of today. Currently it's nothing else but a fancy fashion quirk. How many of those individuals prefering to speak in English are there really? I don't know any and lived there long enough to have noticed a worth mentioning tendency such as this. Arsenio 19:17, 6 Dec 2004 (MET)


 * I suppose what dab meant is that English is the foreign language of choice. Have a bunch of French, Italian, and German speaking Swiss meet and you'll find that many try English if their mother tongue doesn't work. And that's pretty well established.Rl 21:30, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * That's a global phaenomen, not a swiss one. Or? Arsenio 15:03, 2004 Dec 13 (UTC)

Spelling
I have moved the discussion on the spelling of Swiss cantons into an /Archive 2. The vote is called off. I didn't think it makes sense to vote since apparently not many seemed to be involved enough.

As a result of the discussion/vote I suggest we use the following spellings:


 * Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Aargau, Basel Stadt, Basel Landschaft, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Ticino, Uri, Valais, Vaud, Zug, Zürich

That is the official names in the main language spoken in the respective canton, except for Geneva and Lucerne where there is a very common English spelling (in accordance with the MoS.

Kokiri 18:23, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)

For all of those, do remember to create a redirect page which uses no accents or other characters which are not present on an English keyboard. Most native English speakers are unlikely to type a letter which isn't on their keyboard, even if it is possible to type it once you know how. What you've suggested seems to fit well with the way history articles are written, using the name of the place at the time and place of the events and referencing a later or earlier name if useful. Jamesday 03:17, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)


 * Following the previous discussion, I suggest to move the Zurich-article back to where it used to be: at Zurich. -- User:Docu


 * Agreed. It's not currently at a location with significant use by native English speakers. Should continue to give the correct local version in the first paragraph, of course. Jamesday 11:48, 17 Jan 2004 (UTC)


 * There is now a vote at: Talk:Zurich -- User:Docu

RSF linkage
I have removed the following external link:


 * World-wide press freedom index Rank 12 out of 166 countries (4 way tie)

This, because it isn't really about Switzerland. This link should go into an article on Press Freedom, or, if there was a paragraph on that in the article on Switzerland. Kokiri 21:02, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)


 * Agreed. I've replaced it with something better now (as in many other articles). --Shallot 18:47, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Google links
The following two links were recently added: as I'm not convinced that they add much to the topic. -- User:Docu
 * Google Switzerland - regional Google version
 * search.ch - regional search engine and phonebook search.ch

Lake's name
Lake Geneva official name is "Lake Léman", should it bear its official name on the map? Because border line cuts lake in two between Switzerland and France, Lake Léman is more "politically correct".

I did not see on your map Lake Neuchâtel, which is the bigger lake in surface that is enterely in Switzerland!

Christian, from La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland


 * The map is probably from the CIA World Factbook, if there is a better one we are allowed to used, it might be good thing to change it. -- User:Docu


 * Strangely enough the lake is commonly called Lake Geneva in English. This despite Lac Léman or even Le Léman is used in the region. There's another case like this: Lake Constance which is called Bodensee in the region. The Manual of Style suggests we use the English names.


 * This convention on Wikipedia is contrary to some ideas of politically correct which prefer the use of the local word. Kokiri 21:02, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Military
Military_of_Switzerland could use some work. .. User:Docu

{msg:EFTA}
The above frame in its current version suggest that Switzerland is part of the [EEA]. Instead of listing EEA, it might be more useful to list the EU directly afterall there are numerous bilateral agreements. If you want to list EFTA, we might as well include OSCE and not detail the countries, afterall EFTA isn't that important any more. -- User:Docu


 * There are several reasons for creating this box and that it should apply to the four countries included, also Swizerland. The EEA was a treaty negotiated between the EU and EFTA mainly to provide the EFTA countries access to the EU internal market. Swizerland did reject the treaty, as was in their right. However for the other three EFTA signatory parties the EEA treaty is likely more important than EFTA itself today. Creating an EEA box would be kind of ridiculous as the EU countries would be applicable to both, and that the EEA is compatatively less important for the EU countries than vice versa. What the EFTA box does is that it visibly connects those west European countries which are NOT members of the EU. The properties of the EEA is evident and I think that the box could be left unmodified also for Swizerland, but if the feelings are strong about it could equally well be left out. -- Mic 12:31, Feb 22, 2004 (UTC)


 * Why do we need a {msg:... for only four countries? Kokiri 14:20, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)


 * Maybe it'd be better on Economy of Switzerland. -- User:Docu


 * Following the suggestions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countries, I replaced it with {msg:Europe} + plus a few international organisations. -- User:Docu


 * What is the reasoning behind directing the country link from the main article to a subarticle? Second, and more importantly, why was this move done just for one country? If there is consensus about a change like this it should be applied universally not unilaterally.-- Mic 10:01, Apr 12, 2004 (UTC)


 * I don't mind if you change Template:EFTA back (which you alreay did), as you made Template:SwissEFTA, but we wouldn't want to add either of them unilaterally here, until we have consensus if it's really desirable to have several footers see (Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countries, Wikipedia_talk:Page_footers). -- User:Docu


 * I disagree that EFTA is not important. It is the link between EU and Switzerland, even if Switzerland is not a member of the EEA. All other EFTA countries has a EFTA Template, and it is odd Switzerland doesn't have a . Maybe we should make a referendum in best Swiss tradition? ;-) Jakro64 16:33, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

There was a long debate at WikiProject countries. I think the result there (Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Countries) is now that the solution adopted here (adding the template only to the specialized page, e.g. {NATO} to "Military of .."), is being implemented elsewhere. -- User:Docu

Neutrality needs fixing?
I feel that the paragraph about wartime neutrality does not itself read in a very neutral fashion, and the bit about other countries and their neutrality does not, with all due respect, feel to me as if it belongs in this article, though it should perhaps be part of one elsewhere. But I'd be pleased to hear other views. Nevilley 19:46, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * It is/was a central concept and there could easily be several articles about it, but it's hard to decide how much detail (e.g. about Venezuela) is to be included in the summary here. If you feel like fixing it, go ahead. -- User:Docu


 * I have removed this bit, it's currently at Talk:History of Switzerland. IMHO there's room for this extra information in the extended article of the Swiss history, but I fail to see how this is relevant in the general article on Switzerland.


 * I removed this from the sentence on neutrality: and they did trade with all non US-allies during the World Wars, such as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, selling large quantities of munitions (they are not the only ones who did this).

It doesn't make sense. The USSR was a US ally in the war and how did Swiss munitions get to Japan? Rmhermen 22:09, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)

Country name in Latin
Should the official name of the country, at one time set in Latin (to avoid debates which is the best version), be included in the table? BTW which other local versions are to be included? -- User:Docu


 * Maybe we should only have the Latin in big bold? At the moment the other languages seem to be in alphabetical order by language. Maybe it'd be more appropriate to have them sorted by size of local language (i.e. German, French, Italian, Romansh)? - admin.ch does this, too. Or alphabetically by local name? Kokiri 09:19, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Sorting in line with "Official languages:" would be fine. Could save us the language names in the header cell as well. Latin needs probably some explication, probably not just in the table, but also in the article itself. BTW what has been used as a source for the Italian and Rumantsh versions (recently changed). -- User:Docu


 * Actually, according to WP:Countries only local language names should be included. Once the Latin removed, the remaining are explained with the "official language" list further below, thus I suggest we use a caption with just the four official ones. -- User:Docu

Map

 * I replaced Image:Sz-map.jpg with Image:Map-of-Switzerland.png. -- User:Docu

I have replaced the CIA map in the Geography section with my own upload. I'm aware that the new map is quite large, but it's got a few more details (that makes me wonder whether it is in the right place). For comments on the map itself, please use my talk page. Kokiri 16:36, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * I tried to arrange the two differently, as they don't stack easily. -- User:Docu


 * I'm not sure if it's a good idea to remove, in some resolution, the map gets placed beside the next section's header. -- User:Docu

Repeating information of table in article
It seems logical that the summary table repeats information included in the article, especially as there isn't much space to provide a lot of detail in the table. - User:Docu


 * The language of the official name in big bold letters is well explained in the introduction in its own paragraph, relatively at the same location horizontally as that of the name in the Info box.


 * The official name is not in Latin. -- User:Docu


 * Uses include(d) coins, passports, www.admin.ch, seals. Thus "internally" may not accurately describe it. -- User:Docu


 * Also please explain your reverts, specially your removal of spaces in the Info Box.
 * --Cantus 06:32, 3 Apr 2004 (UTC)


 * Which space are you missing? Why are you using three tables instead of one? -- User:Docu


 * BTW The initial |-  in the table is redundant. -- User:Docu

Municipalities in the Canton of Vaud
There is a new series of pages that could be converted into (more extensive) stubs, it can be found with Municipalities_of_the_canton_of_Vaud. -- User:Docu

Official Languages in Switzerland
As far as I know, only German, French and Italian are considered official languages. Rhaeto-Rumantsch is a national language, as the other three as well. This can also be read in the following article, extracted from: http://www.swissworld.org/eng/index.html?siteSect=601&sid=4059003&rubricId=14010

"Language rights

Language rights are enshrined in the Swiss constitution. German, French, Italian and Rhaeto-Rumantsch all have the status of national languages, but only the first three are official languages. Nevertheless, Rumantsch is used in official communications with Rumantsch speakers, who in turn have the right to use their native language in addressing the central authorities."

Posted by marcelo_schlindwein@yahoo.com


 * To be more precise, art. 70 ( German French Italian) of the Swiss Constitution says that "Rumantsch is also an official language for the communications between the Confederation and Rumantsch speakers". This, in my opinion, is more than enough to justify the presence of Rumantsch in the infobox as an official language. Schutz 09:49, 21 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Hi! I wholeheartedly concur with including it. E Pluribus Anthony 10:33, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

OK, while I still feel it should not be included as an official language, I do understand the reasoning that supports it and I apologize for making edits without checking the talk page. &mdash;rebug (talk) 15:06, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I admit that this is a tricky one; I have always heard that Rumantsch was a national, but not an official, language of Switzerland. But, in addition to the quote from the Constitution cited above, I think it would be a pity if Rumantsch was not mentioned prominently on the Switzerland page (that is, in the infobox), given that it is quite a unique specificity of Switzerland. Especially since the distinction of national vs official is a bit blurry. Schutz 15:40, 21 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Is this before or after 1999? Is it about "Official Languages" or official languages ? -- User:Docu


 * Sorry! I've been reading some old stuff... I checked this information at the CIA-Factbook and admit you are right.--Mschlindwein 16:49, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

About demographics/languages: I think it doesn't make sense to put percentages that don't add up to 100%. I suggest to add: "Others 9%"

---

English

<>

I don't agree with that. In the French-Switzerland, very few have good proficiency in English and many does not speak english at all. People in shops look at you very strangely when you try to speak english to them.. It seems to me that german-swiss are better at english. But that does not make english a lingua franca.


 * I don't agree. English is spoken by a lots of people. In cities, the young people, tourism employees tend to know English, but a large majority (IMHO) doesn't know English. Maybe in the german speaking part there are more people that speak english (but I know only in the cities): you can also see that movies in that part are most in original language (aka English), but in the other two parts, the movies are most shown in the territory language. I think in ten year we could use english as lingua franca. -- Cate 12:46, 26 July 2005 (UTC)


 * I think your not right, I m living in Geneva and not a lot of swiss speak english ( around the country ). But now for the work and the music it s easier if you speak english and often if you speak more than one language. The english speaker who don t learn a local language are not very like by the swiss but they think it s an opportunity to improve the english ( you understand ? ).
 * It s difficult for connection between the people with 4 languages and now the english are learning around the world, so why not. Think the french speaker, the german and the italien speaker accept to have the english like a lingua franca ? That is you don t know their cultur.
 * People could look you like a colonial when you speak just english, and not only in Switzerland. --Manu181 19:23, 23 August 2005 (UTC)


 * It already happens. It is not uncommon to find french and german speaking swiss people talking together in English. We speak about swiss languages, so a swiss that speak to you in English is not a symbol of colonialism, but a try to better comunicate, instead of force the other to speak German. BTW, a lot of advertisments are in English, also on the government use frequently English names for reviews, programs, projects,..., instead of the old triple names. Eventually you can see some colonialism in Locarno/Ascona. Advertisment, store sign, restaurant menu are written mainly (or only) in German. People in shop speak with you in German! -- Cate 20:09, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

You had not red what I wrote. And it s like I think, It difficult to know what I said because if you don t speak an other language, the people will not talk to you like me... I know many english people live in Switzerland and the people who came from US or England ( not the children who are born here ) but the older, don t like to learn french. But If they are children in Switzerland, job and Friend, in generally they will learn. I know some english speaker live in Switzerland since TWENTY years and they never learn french. Maybe that s not colonial, but just unpleasent. and I know that s not only in Switzerland. Now the people try to speak english, Why ? -> because why not. that is not the question. I answer about " English like lingua franca " English for " trade " (much better) Politicien use word in english. yes, because the american develloped informatic, buizness, music, world of work. So the word is the one of the inventor. why we use latin word for science, because the europeean use this language for science. It s not a question of english, it s a question of who are invented. If the chinese will invent somthing we use a chinese word, like kung fu. Colonialism ? It s the eternal story of latin and pangermany. The Italian are just 5 % of the population and the german 70%in the country. the german is the first language are teaching in school after italien or french. I think the ticinese don t speak german between them. It s a question of trade because the people like you speak his language. that not an obligation but it s better and you can have more.

--Manu181 10:33, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Name in French
Isn't it confédération helvétique?


 * No, according to http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.fr.html Schutz 03:38, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

But in french it s "confédération helvétique"
 * Confoederatio Helevetica is the name in latin for "politicatly correct" not support french or german.

--Manu181 12:59, 24 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I thought it was "confédération suisse"? (See the above external link.) Lupo 13:50, August 24, 2005 (UTC)


 * Helvete is the name of the people. The both are right. but suisse is french. and the probleme is just about the languages. In german is schweiz and italian swizera ( something like that I don t speak italian ). So, between french speaker it s ok but if you are a foreigner it s better if you use helevetique, it s ok that s not a mistake. look the link. it s write .ch and not .cs also behind the car.


 * --Manu181 09:37, 25 August 2005 (UTC)


 * The external link is the reference (it is the government website...). So you have the latin name and then the names in the four national languages given there. (In French : Confédération suisse). The .ch ccTLD and the CH behind cars do not come from the french Confédération hélvétique (which as far as I know is an inofficial frenchization of the latin name), but from the latin name. Using latin avoids the use of one of the national languages, which could upset part of the population. Now if you are a foreigner (or even a Swiss), you will most likely not use one of those terms, but simply, Switzerland, Suisse, Schweiz, etc. depending in what language you are talking. Glaurung 09:53, 25 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I thought this was about the official name in French, not about what a foreigner might call Switzerland? The common term for the people living in that country in French is "les suisses". The use of "les helvètes" is archaic and not official, like the use of "die Eidgenossen" in German. And the Italian is "svizzera", the people are "i svizzeri". Foreigners typically call the country whatever its name is in the language they speak. D'ailleurs, tu habites où? Lupo 09:56, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Confédération suisse is the official name in French. Punkt Schluss ;-) les helvètes is indeed completely archaic. You can find it in Asterix chez les helvètes, though... Glaurung 10:25, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

A londres depuis 2 mois pour apprendre l anglais mais je vis a Geneve.


 * And When we speak about anglo saxons ? that archaic ? If the only source you have about culture is Asterix, you can shut down your computer.
 * In the official website, it s write coefederatio helevetica. that s not latin but a shake of latin, german and romanche. Because the german are not latin, and romanche nobody can really where they from, It s more similar to spanish than italian ?
 * Glaurung, we talk about governement not people.
 * Sure, the swiss is the swiss and the french is the french. But maybe you know french speaker in europe are from the people of "Franc". Border and governement are an other story. helevete could be use like anglosaxon ou scandinave.
 * If you write Confederation helvetique on the web you have a lot results. le president de la confederation helvetique is mor used than president de la confederation suisse.

But that s not the question

Confederation Helvetique, It s an official name and more use between people

--Manu181 13:01, 25 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Merci. Etant Suisse, tu devrais vraiment savoir mieux :-) Of course "confédération helvétique" is used, too, but it is not the official name. Oh, and by the way: I get about 905'000 hits for "confédération suisse", but only about 26'200 hits for "confédération helvétique". So much for which term is more common. Another note: most of today's population of Switzerland did not decend from the Helvetii. But that's all irrelevant. The official name of Switzerland is given by the Swiss government web site as "confédération suisse", and I should think they know best. Lupo 13:33, August 25, 2005 (UTC)


 * Manu181, if neither me nor Lupo can convince you, would you agree that our country's constitution in french is the reference for the official name in French? Open the PDF document and search for Confédération Helvétique, you will find 0 hit. Do it again with confédération suisse and you'll find 47 hits. That should settle this discussion. Glaurung 14:06, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

On ne pourrais pas en dire autant de toi ;-) ( pas la peine de me repondre comme ca )

* http://www.unige.ch/biblio/ses/plus/index.php?cat=167

It s the link of the university of geneva, they use confederation helvetique for the link to admin.ch

* http://www.ssa.ch/liens/organisations_instjuridiques.htm

And that is the official link of the intelectual propiety of Switzerland. They have write Confederation Helvetique. (Confédération Hélvétique Code suisse des obligations Copyright.ch Site d'information sur la propriété intellectuelle ... )

->in french because I don t speak a good english, I m learning ( good website for learn ), and I don t want to have ( more ) mistake.

look the first question:

Isn't it confédération helvétique? the answer is: no

I think the link is right ( sure ) but the answer is false,

friendly --Manu181 20:17, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Heads of State & Gov't
The text of this page's article makes no mention of a head of government (the prime minister in, i think, all countries that have one; the same person as the head of state in many countries that have no PM.) Swiss Federal Council mentions the term head of gov't only in placing itself in Category:Heads of government. If the SFC is collective head of gov't as well as of state, the article should say so; if not, that article should forgo that category tag. --Jerzy(t) 05:52, 2004 Aug 18 (UTC)


 * Swiss Federal Council could use some expansion .. Anyways, Head of Government is not the Federal Chancellor. -- User:Docu

Republic?
Switzerland is one of the world's oldest, surviving republics. This is very misleading. First of all, Switzerland is not officially a republic, but rather a federation, so if anything, the individual cantons would be among the world's oldest republics. More importantly, the 1291 business is more of a national myth than real history. In any case, there is no direct connection of the present state with republics that may or may not have existed in the 14th and 15th century. Switzerland as a sovereign state goes back to 1848 and as such is of the same age as most European nation states. If nobody objects, I will change the text to reflect this. dab 17:19, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * Seconded. That's small potatoes, though, compared to Letter_of_Alliance which embarrassingly claims that On 1 August 1291 the Eternal Alliance was formed, uniting Switzerland. Said letter is now widely believed to be fake, and whatever it united, it sure wasn't Switzerland.Rl 17:56, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * indeed! I have immediately changed that. It's also a bit much to have an english translation of the entire letter. It would be a better place to discuss the authenticity of the thing. dab 18:42, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * Good job. I don't mind having the entire letter there, it is on-topic and disk space is cheap.Rl 19:08, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

District (Swiss)
I've started translating de:Bezirk (Schweiz) to produce this temporary article, and plan to put it into the article namespace, but not until more of the redlinks have also been translated. It'll take me some time... -Wikibob | Talk 20:49, 2004 Oct 3 (UTC)


 * Please use standard canton name!!! Switzerland is not only a german speaking country! So use Ticino, Vaud, ... -- Cate 12:38, 26 July 2005 (UTC)


 * Second comment: I don't agree with your division. District definition varies a lot between cantons, so I don't see way standardize the district division. Let every canton to divide municipality by own divisions (if need). And I think for this pourpose the sub category swiss geography is better. -- Cate 12:38, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Better map
Can anybody insert a better map of Switzerland, please? HE, November 2004

Economy - old statistics
This chapter has statistics from 1999, even 1996! Can anybody replace them? Thanks. HE November 2004!

Population and Density Adjusted
Corrected the Population and the Density

Source for the Population is the Federal Statistic Office of Switzerland: www.bfs.admin.ch

Also corrected the % amount of water surface to 4.2 %, wich I also got from the swiss Federal Statistic Office PDF-Document 4th page --212.254.248.201 01:39, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Infobox
I moved the box to template:Switzerland infobox.--Jerryseinfeld 19:43, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * And now someone disabled that.--Jerryseinfeld 21:14, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * It may be someone that have made a comment at Village pump (miscellaneous).--Jerryseinfeld 21:44, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Enough already. Guys? How is this template issue worth an edit war? Rl 08:18, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)

um, what is this even about? take a step back, people, ffs! dab (&#5839;) 20:54, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)


 * Check out the Village pump link above. There are good arguments for both having the Infobox as a template or in the article. IOW, it's a totally stupid revert war over nothing. Obviously, not everybody agrees. Improved template code may eventually make the point moot anyway.Rl 22:44, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)

recent vandalism
it's not so much anti-Swiss as anti-Turkish. Since it is the Turks who have their reputation damaged by their government's continued denial of the Armenian genocide. While Switzerland, like any other civilized country, is simply recognizing the events as genocide, and also happens to have laws against holocaust denial (see here). It seems like many Turkish nationalists have a long road towards sanity ahead of them. Incidentially, while Perincek is facing charges, he is not imprisoned or anything, and as long as he doesn't show up in Switzerland again, it is unlikely he will have to take responsibility for breaking Swiss law. "FREE DOGU PERINCEK!" does seem a bit hysterical, in that context. dab (&#5839;) 12:49, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Energy politics -> Main article: "Nuclear power phase-out"
In line with the other "main articles", wouldn't the one here be one about "Energy politics in Switzerland"? Besides, "Phase-out" is misleading as the following paragraph contradicts that.

Further, the inserted section is the full text copied-and-pasted from Nuclear_power_phase-out. Thus, it should be sufficient to link that section under "Miscellaneous topics". -- User:Docu


 * I see your point about the "main articles." The phase-out article is about all countries and Switzerland has decided against a phase-out. But, if you would look at the nuclear power phase-out there is more information about energy politics in Switzerland and there is space for even more. My hope is that some people here will contribute and not blackball me in providing some information about energy politics in Switzerland. BTW, it's a WikiProject Countering systemic bias topic. If you had read the section at Nuclear_power_phase-out than you must have noticed that the contribution to the article here was not just randomly copy-pasted but carefully chosen and edited. You should take more care before you are removing other peoples contributions. --Ben T/C 12:24, August 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * You can use the "Show changes" function in preview to see how much the two sections in the two articles differ. It appears to me that one sentence was moved and spelling was checked in the version here. Are there any other contributions I did overlook?


 * Are you going to fix all the "main article" links (here and elsewhere)? -- User:Docu


 * To your second question: yes I will remove the main article link after I have brought back the section you vandalized again ignoring my comments. I also noted that you blanked your talk page after I asked you there about your changes (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Docu&curid=179741&diff=20994023&oldid=20989331). I have to tell you that this is considered extremely bad style.
 * As for your first question about my changes... You just wanted to remove the "dab" and obviously by accident overlooked my changes. It is time now for you to move back and admit it before you do more things that you might regret afterwards. --Ben T/C 14:14, August 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * I put the section again with small changes. Please see it and address problems here for discussion. I will ask an administrator for arbitration if you, Docu (or an anonymous user for that case) will remove it again without having discussed it here. --Ben T/C 14:23, August 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * Please excuse the misunderstanding, but the main article link needing fixing was inserted in a series of articles (e.g. Germany, Sweden, Belgium etc.) not just here (ok, possibly by other contributors).


 * Before removing the duplication, I did compare the text of the section "Energy politics" on Switzerland with "Switzerland" on Nuclear_power_phase-out. Please explain the difference between the two sections beyond the ones I noted above.
 * If the contribution in one article is condensed to point the other, this has nothing to do with vandalization, but is precisely what the "main article" link is for.


 * Further, after I had noted on my talk page that I responded here, you commented here too. Is there a part of your comment on my talk page we didn't address yet? -- User:Docu


 * I politely ask you if you have any objections to the section or not. I you are just wasting my time with egomaniacs than cut it out. If you have, you better explain yourself because I don't get your point. There is nothing bad in extending the article here with the information I put concerning energy politics in Switzerland. The nuclear power phase-out article is more extensive and will become more so when more people have contributed. I ask you again either to give precise reasons why you don't want the section or not waste my time any more than you already have. --Ben T/C 14:48, August 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * And Switzerland and Nuclear_power_phase-out are different. It's not a copy-paste move and I request you stop asserting that. --Ben T/C 14:53, August 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * There are a few differences, I pointed out, but would you mind explaining the ones I missed, rather than digressing into an argument ad personam? Unless there are differences I missed, I think the section should summarize and point to the detailed section in the other article. -- User:Docu


 * Ok, sorry if I was too agitated and personal. I don't like it when people delete my contributions without giving reasons and/or falsely allege copy-pasting. I created the article about nuclear power phase-out a few days ago and I hope it will grow a lot. I changed Germany, Sweden, Belgium and removed "main article" as you suggested. I also expanded at Nuclear_power_phase-out. What else can you find? It's not paper and the information is non-trivial. I admit I also hope people would come to the Nuclear_power_phase-out (I also put it on WP:DYK and several noticeboards) because I want to make it as good as possible, but that's only my right. I removed the link that was labeled "main article." --Ben T/C 16:00, August 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * As Nuclear_power_phase-out is now much more developed (Good work BTW), indeed the two are now different. I'd now add here a direct link to the section there and still condense May 18 2003 a bit. -- User:Docu


 * Thanks. :) --Ben T/C 13:15, August 20, 2005 (UTC)

Media
Does Switzerland have a media? If so what are its policies about confidential sources? --E.S. (4.167.56.96)
 * Do you mean media law ? I don't know about the law per se, but there is something about the topic in the criminal code (code penal in French), see e.g. . Short answer is that confidential sources are protected, expect in some cases (if a life is threatened, or if the information could solve a murder or other serious crime). But there probably is more to the topic that just this one article, but IANAL. Schutz 00:22, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Politics - Zauberformel (magic formula)
The section on politics says:

From 1959 to December 2003, the four major parties were represented in the Federal Council according to the "magic formula", proportional to their representation in federal parliament: 2 Christian Democrats (CVP/PDC), 2 from the Social Democrats (SPS/PSS), 2 Free Democrats (FDP/PRD), and 1 from the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC). This traditional distribution of seats, however, is not backed up by any law, and in the 2003 elections to the Federal Council the CVP/PDC lost their second seat to the SVP/UDC.

The way I remember it, the magic formula (Zauberformel) was no longer accurately represented due to a shift in votes from the CVP to the SVP. The December 2003 election of Christoph Blocher therefore assured that the actual representation matched vote percentages. The current paragraph makes it sound like the magic formula was no longer followed after 2003.
 * the "magic formula" referred to the 2:2:2:1 distribution, not to a mathematically proportional representation. 2:2:2:1 approximately represented party strength, and its long survival was considered a sign of stability. The SPS had to wait for 20 years to get their second seat, even after their relative strength would have justified one. The SVP only had to wait for one legislation period. The Zauberformel is history now, and the current distribution over-represents CVP and under-represents the Greens (a more adequate distribution would have been 2:2:1:1:1, the ones being FDP, CVP, Greens). But there is no rule that the council represents party strength. The Parliament could have continued the formula in the interest of stability. Electing Blocher turns out to have been a dreadful mistake, since the council has been practically paralized by infighting for two years now. dab (&#5839;) 09:03, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

Suggestions
I think this is a good article. A few suggestions:

Under economics please record that those treaties with the EU were all ratified by referendum. It says Bern negotiated them in order to get around the people's reluctance to join the EU (true) but the people ratified those treaties with (as I recall) a majority in all cantons except Ticino. They are not so isolationist.

Maybe put in the link http://c2d.unige.ch/ which is the centre for research into direct democracy at the Uni of Geneva.

Here's a slightly harder one: set out Neidhart's thesis that the facultative referendum (that's the 50000 signatures within 100 days one) is the cause of the "Vernehmlassung" process whereby every interested party gets a say about a proposed law. The art of governing the country is to avoid a referendum. (Some say Switzerland doesn't have a government, only an administration.) This is responsible for laws passing with usually 80 to 100% of MPs in favour. Statistically 6% (not 7 as in some references) of laws do wind up with a referendum and of them half go into the WPB (around 70 laws over the last 120 years). The chance of a law actually suffering a referendum is proportional to the number of MPs voting for it: for example it turns out that if only(!) 67% of the lower house agree to the law it has (purely statistically) a 50% chance of going to referendum.

It seems pretty clear that it is the facultative referendum which is also the fundamental driver which causes all four major parties to get into cabinet. 150.203.2.85 11:10, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Landlock
I probably could've just edited it, but the invisible comment pushed me backward. Do you think it's fine to have Swiss a 'landlocked country'? I mean, it is, and it can be okay to put that info there. What are your thoughts?  Gerald WL  15:54, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure which invisible comment you're referring to, but the third sentence of the lead already states Switzerland is a landlocked country.  Calidum   16:08, 10 July 2020 (UTC)


 * The invisible comment I'm referring to is the one warning users who wants to edit the brief introduction. The brief definiton wasn't 'landlocked country' when I first clicked Edit. Maybe someone noticed this talk. I dunno.  Gerald WL  07:46, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 3 September 2020
GDP by Purchasing Power Parity in the infobox is written with no large number. Surely it is not five hundred-eighty-four dollars. FernandoAguado (talk) 07:15, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done – Thjarkur (talk) 08:03, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Lombard
Lombard Language is important in southern switzerland culture, and still spoken by almost half of the population, especially in alpine valleys. It's not a "dialectal form" of Italian. It's a separate language, and it should be mentioned properly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.171.99.123 (talk) 20:58, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Change value added tax rate for Switzerland (Semi-protected edit request on 11 September 2020)
Change the value added tax rate from 33% to 7.7%, and add a source.

The article incorrectly states Swiss Value Added Tax is 33%. The true rate is 7.7%. Sources for this (the first is the official source but less clear): https://www.estv.admin.ch/estv/en/home/mehrwertsteuer/fachinformationen/was-ist-die-mehrwertsteuer.html https://www.ch.ch/en/vat-rates-switzerland/ Cincinnus (talk) 07:24, 11 September 2020 (UTC)
 * The text is not very clear, but it is not discussing the rate, but rather the proportion that each tax contributes to federal revenue. I've cleaned up the language. Regards, --Goldsztajn (talk) 12:54, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

External Debt
First, who is the multi-trillion dollars of Switzerland's external debt OWNED to? Swiss romulus (talk)
 * Subsidiary question if I may: the vast majority of large Swiss corporations are "OWNED by (unidentified) FOREIGN ENTITITES" according to one source cited. WHO are they specifically (i.e. Who are the "Beneficial owners")? Forbe's list of richest people might help but this list is *uncomplete* IMO and the total sum of liabilities does not amount to the total assets, GLOBALLY speaking (even if you take World Bank stats about debt, etc). My point is there a large "missing amount". 😀

If I remember correctly, one source (titled "American funds buy-back Switzerland") reveals that "one third of the amount cannot be appropriated to any country of origin" (because of the use of (offshore) shell companies for example?) and this amount was split evenly between the other identified country of "origins". Best, 99.203.25.119 (talk) 14:01, 2 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Hi, if you really want to know, you can look at the breakdown in the SNB. It is mostly FDI and bank deposits (yes, bank deposits by foreign entities count as liabilities, and count towards "gross external debt"). But the number you presented is GROSS external debt, not NET external debt. Gross numbers in this case are irrelevant without the net numbers. When someone from outside Switzerland deposits money in a bank in Switzerland, it increases the gross external debt, but it doesn't change the net external debt. The fact that you're adding it without even understanding what it is means you probably shouldn't be adding it. Oh, and please keep your conspiracy theories out of this wiki and DO NOT EDIT WAR, if your changes were reverted, it is your responsibility to seek a new consensus before making any new edits. And you know this because you've been warned for edit warring before. Tahnk you. UCaetano (talk) 19:18, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
 * ? Sir, you mean that "theory"?😀 If I see you edit warring I'll have to report you again. Thanks. Swiss romulus (talk) 00:40, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * What the heck are you talking about? But sure, please do report me. Oh, and removing the warnings from your talk page doesn't make them go away. UCaetano (talk) 02:50, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * You have been edit warring based on your edit history and talk page several times.. Swiss romulus (talk) 03:01, 2 July 2020 (UT
 * Swiss romulus, all your edits are excellent! Il love the ALL. Very Best to you friend Tempqa16 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:08, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Explain why Switzerland is not, despite of appearance, a landlocked country.
In the article, there is no mention of Switzerland NOT being a landlocked country. Maybe it would be useful to mention why not? The Rhine is considered international waters until Basel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rin67630 (talk • contribs) 13:56, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
 * You would need a reliable source - WP:RS to specifically state it as such and if there are a majority of reliable sources that says it is landlocked then that would remain the case. Provide the source/s and start a discussion otherwise it is just POV. Robynthehode (talk) 14:17, 12 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Switzerland not only appears to be a landlocked country, it is a landlocked country. Sharing borders with rivers and lakes does not count. The Rhine is not "international waters until Basel". International waters do not occur until the water is 12 nmi from the mean low water mark of any sovereign land other than man made features. RFenergy (talk) 13:34, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 November 2020
change "is a country situated at the confluence of Western, Central, and Southern Europe" to "s a country situated at the confluence of Western and Central Europe"

Switzerland never has been considered as southern Europe culturally, nor geographically (latitudes, climate, fauna ...). Even though it's touching northern Italy (which is rather a transition zone by the way), there is no reason Switzerland would mention "Southern Europe" in the first line of its description. The phytogeography of southern Tessin (less than 5% of the Territory) is located in the transition zone to Southern Europe. That's actually the only common point between Switzerland ans Southern Europe.

Reference: Central Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe (it's in) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe#/media/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-en.svg (it's in) Western Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe (it was in, but most recent maps don't include it) Southern Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe (it's not even in the page) European climate:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe#/media/File:Europe_Köppen_Map.png

You even talk about the "Western or Central europe" in the page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Switzerland#Western_or_Central_Europe? Switzerland is not southern Europe in any way. That statement could be misleading to non-european people, that's why I think it's important to correct it. Roumaru (talk) 20:43, 20 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't get the feeling that this sentence is saying Switzerland is a part of Southern Europe, it's just saying it's situated where the regions of Western, Central, and Southern Europe meet without necessarily claiming it's a part of any of them. Southern France is usually considered Southern European. But maybe this wording could be altered for more clarity. – Thjarkur (talk) 10:32, 21 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't see a problem for the sentence in its current state as there are too many definitions and criteria of these divisions that it's simpler to leave it in. We can agree that the border of Southern Europe is somewhere in/along Switzerland, so I think mentioning it is not unreasonable. ◢  Ganbaruby!   (Say hi!) 16:21, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Edit request
You have some typing errors in the second sentence of section 5 (economy). 31.54.65.124 (talk) 00:47, 29 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Please list in a form your concerns like "modify X -> Y". Thank You.(KIENGIR (talk) 03:37, 30 December 2020 (UTC))

Drug addiction in Switzerland
Hi,

I was reverted for reinstating a long-standing material and sourced to WP:RS info about drug addiction in CH. Instead as a compromise I left the first paragraph and suggest to move the rest to health in Switzerland for details. Cheers, Swiss romulus (talk) 06:05, 9 November 2020 (UTC)

On the main table you separated the Christians, but not the nontheists into: 1. atheists, 2. agnostics, 3. indifferent/other nontheist
Be fair. Do the same! See: antiagnostic atheism, because you claim that openness to the possibility of magic is tautological to its rejection. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2a02:587:410d:3400:b418:d480:bab5:8a50 (talk • contribs) 14:16, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
 * That data doesn't seem to exist. On the Federal level surveys they just report "No Membership".Tobyc75 (talk) 15:32, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected?
I notice that this article is semi-protected. Where is the rationale for that protection discussed?

Thanks. 2601:200:104:9F00:580B:8670:2E4F:3AC0 (talk) 09:30, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Doesn't count as a discussion, but maybe the protection log helps you? User:Samsara (who applied the protection in 2017) is kind of active, but hasn't edited since late June. You may have to wait a while for an answer at their talk page. &mdash; JohnFromPinckney (talk / edits) 16:39, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

Untitled (Romansch)
Romansch language is equal by law to the other three official languages and should be reflected as such — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:14f:4401:6380:d449:6e4f:9ee7:5e29 (talk) 02:23, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 October 2021
Federal semi-direct democracy under a assembly-independent[5][6] directorial republic

Should read:

Federal semi-direct democracy under an assembly-independent[5][6] directorial republic

Poor English/typo Ahendric (talk) 21:30, 24 October 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ and thanks for spotting and reporting this. &mdash; JohnFromPinckney (talk / edits) 23:35, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Germaine de Staël
Why is Madame de Staël listed as a Swiss French-speaking writer in the article? She was French, nothing else, although of Swiss descent (which could perhaps make her a "French writer of Swiss descent", but definitely not just a "Swiss writer"). She was born in France, died in France, spent the vast majority of her life in France, and did almost everything she's famous for in France. She spent some of her time in exile in Switzerland, but she also spent time in Germany, England, Austria, Russia and Sweden, so there's absolutely no basis for claiming she was a "Swiss writer"! - Drachentöter001 (talk) 16:28, 28 October 2021 (UTC)

Immediate Post-WWII Period Lacking
This article and its offspring are lacking in information about the post WWII period (1946-1958). Efforts by the Allies to get Switzerland involved in reparations involving Nazi gold are not mentioned here but discussed in US National Archives Records of Foreign Service Posts: Switzerland. See. The British and US conducted aerial photography missions over Switzerland with Swiss permission in 1946. See And while Switzerland restricted border crossings by US Persons during the war, this video shows US troops sightseeing in Switzerland in 1946. See. Certainly something could be said about Switzerland in the post-war period. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pnoble805 (talk • contribs) 19:33, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

What does de jure capital mean?
While it may be interesting to discuss why Switzerland avoided to use the term Hauptstadt, I do not think it is a good reason to make the distinction between de jure and de facto capital just for Switzerland. The constitutions of Canada and Australia use the term "seat of government", are Ottawa and Canberra also de facto capitals? The seat of the Swiss federal government is legally defined to be in Bern (article 58 of the Government and Administration Organisation Act). That "Switzerland has no capital" seems to be like a factoid paraded around as a "fun fact" when it is not that unusual. A better argument could be made for France, the seat of government not formally conferred by law to Paris, than for Switzerland to be without a de jure capital. As such, I would suggest to remove such artificial distinction from the infobox. 31.10.162.187 (talk) 01:57, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * The current description given in the infobox (no capital city de jure, and Bern de facto) is satisfactory as it is in accordance with the legal texts. On the one hand the 1999 constitution of Switzerland does not mention a capital city and, what’s even more significant, a recent attempt made to change that failed (as is described in details in the article). On the other hand almost all government institutions are located in Bern (but not all of them: for instance the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland is not). --Sapphorain (talk) 10:35, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Bern is de jure the seat of government, the definition of capital in English, and the seat of the "supreme authority" of the Confederation. No other country seems to get the same treatment. For example, there is no mention of Paris in the French constitution. The UK and New Zealand does not even have a single coherent written constitution. None of these countries have the note "de facto". Even with in Switzerland, the cantonal capitals do not get the extra notes, e.g. Delémont is listed as the capital for Jura, not the de facto capital. I think a consistent approach is needed. Zhantongz (talk) 17:43, 9 January 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 January 2022
{Add swizzy's to wikipedia page about switzerland} Georgia the country (talk) 23:51, 28 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 23:55, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

Tourism index
I know CH has very good infrastructure when it comes to tourism. Everything WORKS. Besides personnel is generally well trained and some chefs are graduates from top hosteling Schools (e.g. Lausanne "ecole hoteliere"). Swiss people are generally very hospitable. Cleanliness is also a plus factor for CH. Safety is generally good. All this should be mentioned in the economy section. May be there is a summary Index for tourism (besides the Tourism revenues rankings). On the minus side: cost of living which is already reported in the economy section. Cheers. Swiss romulus (talk) 22:13, 6 January 2021 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.58.236.99 (talk) 16:02, 21 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Plus beautiful landscapes. the Alps in particular. 172.58.236.177 (talk) 05:03, 19 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Minus the fact of racial discrimination of non-Europeans visitors:"32% of the population say they have experienced some form of discrimination or violence in the past 5 years (2021)."

Luxembourg gini index
. 109.98.136.130 (talk) 05:31, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Berne/Bern and Zurich/Zürich
Is there a standardized spelling of these two cities that this article uses? Sources use both versions of each name, but I figure it would make sense to only use one spelling through the article. ― Tuna NoSurprises Please  16:22, 2 March 2022 (UTC)


 * Looks like the French spelling vs the English or German spelling to me 😎😁 172.58.236.3 (talk) 05:30, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 3 May 2022
The description of Swiss sports describes Federer having a "record" 20 Grand Slam titles. This is no longer accurate as Rafael Nadal now has 21 titles. Zarkoperovic (talk) 21:28, 3 May 2022 (UTC)


 * removed the "record". But he is still mentioned as a successful tennis player.Paradise Chronicle (talk) 22:18, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

Page is blank
It seems this page is now blank. I can't edit it as it's semi-protected. Someone needs to fix the page or revert it to the previous version. Thank you

XA1dUXvugi (talk) 14:16, 22 May 2022 (UTC)


 * This has been solved. Thank you @Dicklyon
 * XA1dUXvugi (talk) 14:22, 22 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Done Paradise Chronicle (talk) 14:22, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Crime in Switzerland
I visited this page hoping to find a section on crime in Switzerland, and failed to do so. Later I found an already existing separate page "Crime in Switzerland" and I linked to it under Demographics. The change was reverted, even suggested it was vandalism. Why? Asgrrr (talk) 18:01, 28 May 2022 (UTC)
 * I don’t see ANY problem with y/edit. Cheers:) 172.58.236.153 (talk) 21:19, 28 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Can you describe the revert here? Aman Kumar Goel (Talk) 21:21, 28 May 2022 (UTC)
 * I did not see a direct connection between demographics and crime. But maybe it is still the most plausible place to add this link.Nillurcheier (talk) 15:01, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you, and I would suggest that in the future, when someone tries to improve an article, instead of in effect throwing the legos back in the pile, an editor would try to find a better improvement to the article in a similar spirit. Asgrrr (talk) 15:51, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Ditto!172.58.236.78 (talk) 20:29, 29 May 2022 (UTC)

Comments and questions
This was a good, well written and informative/interesting article. I have some comments and questions.

1. The introduction talks about 8th GDP (PPP) but the box shows 9th.

2a. "Thus, while the rest of Europe saw revolutionary uprisings, the Swiss drew up a constitution which provided for a federal layout, much of it inspired by the American example."

What was the year?

2b. "This new constitution also brought a legal end to nobility in Switzerland."

What was the year?

3. "A new Swiss Constitution was adopted in 1999, but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure."

This is in direct contradition to the previous "A new Swiss Constitution was adopted in 1999, but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure."

4. "Swiss citizens are prohibited from serving in foreign armies, except for the Swiss Guards of the Vatican, or if they are dual citizens of a foreign country and reside there."

My understanding is that "there" means abroad: if you are a citizen of Switzerland and a resident of, let's say Belgium, you can serve in the military in Belgium.

5. "However, ammunition is no longer issued."

What does it mean?

6. "The foreign citizen population was 28.9% in 2015, about the same as in Australia."

This is a pointless comparison.

7. "Eight of ten best hotel schools in the world are located in Switzerland. In addition, there are various Universities of Applied Sciences."

This is not a good transition.

8. "Notable inventions include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), diazepam (Valium), the scanning tunnelling microscope (Nobel prize) and Velcro."

What's the meaning of "Nobel prize" following "scanning tunnelling microscope"? It's inconsistent with the other things that are listed.

9. "A further referendum will be needed to approve 300 million francs to support Romania and Bulgaria and their recent admission."

This excerpt should be checked and a date should be added to it.

ICE77 (talk) 07:06, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 October 2022
Change, "In 2002 Switzerland become a full member of the United Nations," to, "In 2002 Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations." Raulisv (talk) 12:16, 2 October 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅ ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:29, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

Why are you misrepresenting the History of Helvetia with your falsified Nazi takeover Switzerland name?
Topic says it all. A lot of you do not know your History of Helvetia. Nor how it became Switzer-land after Nazi Germany invaded during World War 2. Before this war, this land was known as Helvetia. Stop posting misinformation, then locking the topic. The land before world war 2 is known as Helvetia. Catholic records prove this. Quote: Why Switzerland is called Helvetia? Helvetia. The Old Swiss Confederacy of the early modern period was often called Helvetia or Republica Helvetiorum ("Republic of the Helvetians") in learned humanist Latin. The Latin name is ultimately derived from the name of the Helvetii, the Gaulish tribe living on the Swiss plateau in the Roman era. Quote: What country is known as Helvetia? Switzerland in brief. Destination Switzerland, a Nations Online country profile of the Swiss Confederation. Helvetia, how the country was called in ancient times, but even today, the name is still in use. The country's official Latin name is Confoederatio Helvetica (CH). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Helvetia

2601:547:C881:D7B0:0:0:0:B05E (talk) 19:35, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

Swiss as an ethnic group?
I see that in the ethnic group section in the first description there is the Swiss designation but I don't really think that we can call Swiss an ethnic group. Lmagoutas (talk) 08:38, 27 July 2022 (UTC)


 * It's the "ethnic group" of people who like to eat CHEESE. & It is quite homogenous (like the fondue) :) Swiss romulus (talk) 02:02, 21 August 2022 (UTC)


 * I agree with Lmagoutas and have removed it. There are simply no reliable secondary sources quoted for this. Even the article itself states Swiss identity transcends language, ethnicity, and religion, leading to Switzerland being described as a Willensnation ("nation of volition") rather than a nation state. --hroest 16:26, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

Infobox: "Ethnic Groups" or nationalities?
The "Ethnic Groups" section of the infobox currently only includes two distinctions: swiss nationality and non-swiss nationality. This distinction has nothing to do with ethnicity. Either a new section for citizenship/nationality should be made, or the contents of the "ethnic groups" section should be revised to reflect the actual ethnic makeup of Switzerland. Perhaps both can be done. NipponGinko (talk) 03:18, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * This should clearly be removed, there is no such thing as an "Ethnic Swiss" person, one could argue that there are at least 4 different cultural groups which speak 4 languages plus foreigners. So one could try and use mother tongue for ethnicity but using nationality / whether they have a Swiss passport or not for ethnicity is clearly wrong. I am not versed enough however to know if there are reliable sources for a "Swiss-German", "Swiss-French", "Swiss-Italian" and "Swiss-Romantsch" ethnicity. Also I feel like in Switzerland there is a good argument for 26 ethnicities based on canton, fulfilling the "basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups." criterion from ethnicity. Also neither France not Germany have that field. Better to remove it altogether which I have done. --hroest 16:25, 7 March 2023 (UTC)