Switzerland must promote CERN’s long-term development potential, particularly in terms of spatial planning, which has prompted the Federal Council to initiate work on a federal sectoral plan focusing on CERN projects. According to the current state of planning, the Federal Council intends to submit a dispatch to Parliament creating the necessary legal basis by the … More Federal Council intends to increase Swiss support for CERN projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll among elderly people although retirees have seen their pension payments well protected across OECD countries. Future pension entitlements have also been well protected thanks to the exceptional policy response to the crisis, according to a new OECD report. Pensions at a Glance 2021 says however that the … More Pensions protected during COVID-19 pandemic but ageing challenges persist, says OECD

  In 2020, EU ports handled around 3.3 billion tonnes of goods in gross weight, a substantial decrease compared with 2019 (-7%). This fall can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions put in place across the Member States and worldwide. After reaching a new peak in 2019 (3.6 billion tonnes), the … More Weight of goods handled by EU ports dropped by 7 % in 2020

At the invitation of US President Joe Biden, President Guy Parmelin took part in a summit held by video conference on Thursday, 9 December, on the values and challenges of democracy. In his address, Mr Parmelin stressed that democratic values are resilient despite challenges. “History has shown that democracy can bring justice, social stability, peace, … More Swiss President Parmelin represented Switzerland at Summit for Democracy

On December 9, 2021, the EU Commission, together with the European Environment Agency (EEA), are publishing a data tool – MapMyTree – for all organisations to join the pledge of planting three billion additional trees by 2030, register and map their planted trees to count the EU target. As part of the European Green Deal, … More Biodiversity: Three billion additional trees by 2030 – launch of MapMyTree tool

The unemployment rate in the OECD area fell for the sixth consecutive month in October 2021, to 5.7 % (from 5.8 % in September), but at a slower pace than in previous months. It remained 0.5 percentage point above the pre-pandemic rate recorded in February 2020. The number of unemployed workers across the OECD area … More Unemployment rate falls slightly in the OECD area, reaching 5.7 % in October 2021