There are a million questions that come up during an international move, and one of the most pressing for families is: Where do I send my kids to school? This is no simple question. Finding and vetting schools and arranging enrollment can be a challenge, and the choice of a school can shape a family’s social life and cultural adjustment.
Swiss Customers React to New Import Limits; Swiss National Day Farm Brunch Hosts Quit; Last Minute Changes to Floating Stage Venue; Violence Flares In Basel
July 1st ushered in a new set of import limits, with the biggest changes affecting the importation of food and agricultural products.
The biggest focus of this issue is meat, of course, where Swiss bought meat products significantly exceed the cost of purchasing in neighboring countries.
The new rules consolidated all meat products into one category with a flat 1kg per person limit (who is now also required to be over 17 years of age), as opposed to the previous rules allowing for larger quantities of processed meats to be imported.
Any meat brought in excess of the cap is taxed at 17 swiss francs per kilo.
It appears that the Italian border towns on the southern frontier of Switzerland have been hard-hit by the new rules, seeing their trade in meat reduced by 25-30 percent.
However, in our region, it appears that meat lovers have not been dissuaded by the quota as French and German butchers are not reporting any significant reduction in sales.
Perhaps Swiss clients of the northern border towns don't eat as much meat as their southern neighbors or they've elected to pay their import duties.
According to one meat purveyor in France, it will be difficult to tell what the final effect will be until summer holidays are over and hungry families return home.
However, they remain hopeful that with the large disparity in price for meat products continuing, people will simply adjust their buying habits, shopping more often, or simply trying their luck getting past the border inspectors without paying import duties.
According to Michel Bachar, a spokesperson for the regional border guards, there have been no additional customs officers placed at the border crossings since the law went into effect.
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For the last 22 years farms across Switzerland have opened their farmsteads to the public to enjoy a brunch on the morning of August 1st to celebrate Swiss National Day.
Organized by the Swiss Farmers’ Union with the aim of bringing producers and consumers together, the initiative allows visitors to sample local produce and specialities prepared by the farm, for a set price of 35 francs.
The event is increasingly popular, with 150,000 people expected to attend a brunch this Friday, triple the number that turned out in 1993, the inaugural year of the event.
Despite the growth in demand the number of farms participating has dropped from 535 in 1993 to 350 this year, according to the newspaper Blick.
“The number of farms offering the brunch has fallen constantly for several years,” Sandra Helfenstein, spokesperson for the Swiss Farmers’ Union, told the newspaper.
Some farms are tired of doing it, she explained, while others feel they have already offered enough.
The pressure of offering such an event during an already busy time for farms is another factor, she added.
And staging a brunch doesn’t earn the farm much money – on average between 1,000 and 2,500 francs, estimated Helfenstein.
To combat the decline the Farmer's Union is instigating a pilot project for 2015.
The Union will encourage more farms to take part but on a much smaller scale, catering for around 20 people each, rather than hundreds.
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The Basel Floating Stage or Kulturfloss returns for its 15th anniversary performance series starting today on the kleinbasel side of the Rhein near the Mittlerbrucke.
However, after last years experience with flood level waters in the Rhein, the organizers of the event will use their contingency plans because of the recent rains.
For the opening night tonight, the production has secured a temporary stage permit on land by the Krafft Hotel and Boulevard restaurant near the normal venue of the event.
Production manager Roland Schaad said that the organizers were happy not to have to cancel the planned performance outright, and will continue the shows on land until more cooperative weather allows the use of the traditional stage raft.
It is estimated that the cost of the last minute changes to the venue will cost the concert producers an additional 10,000 francs for the changes.
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This past weekend several incidents of criminal violence shook up the normally safe ambiance of Basel's evenings and nights.
Friday Night into the pre dawn hours of Saturday saw the muggings of two teenagers, and a 27 year old male, in one instance the perpetrators threatened the victim with a knife. In all the cases, the criminals fled on foot and have yet to be apprehended.
in the early hours of Sunday in a crowded barfusserplatz bar, a 21 and 22 year old men had to be carried by ambulance to an emergency room when they were attacked with chairs and kicks once they were on the ground.
apparently the two men were with a larger group of friends when an altercation broke out with another group of men which escalated into the violence that resulted in the injuries.
By the time police arrived, the main culprits had run from the scene, and so far, no witnesses are forthcoming despite the crowds of people that were in the area.
In a show of force, police have responded with Posters that have been hung in the areas of the violence encouraging people to speak up and report what they see to authorities.