The sad news of the World Health Organization’s Glenn Thomas being one of the 298 victims killed in the downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 has once again brought it home how embedded the international community in Switzerland is in world affairs. Glenn, a former BBC producer who represented WHO as a press spokesman, and hence a friend and colleague, had left Geneva via Amsterdam to attend the World AIDS Conference in Melbourne. He was one of at least 10 AIDS-related specialists, primarily researchers, heading to Australia on board MH17 for the global gathering.

Given the Lake Geneva region’s position as a planetary hub, many of us, whether involved with international aid, media, business, science or academia, regularly fly out from Cointrin to somewhere else. We head to international conferences, business meetings, schools and universities, or on humanitarian and diplomatic missions. We leave our families, colleagues and pets behind, and our bills on the kitchen table to be paid, dry-cleaning to be picked up, or dinners to be attended once we get back. And we don’t think twice about it.

When Glenn left for Melbourne via Schiphol Airport, he was travelling to attend a crucial conference focusing on the current state of HIV/AIDS. That was part of his job and he probably assumed that he would be back soon. We, too, assumed that we would see his usual smiling face around WHO and the Palais. Ironically, only a day earlier, UNAIDS – another Geneva-based organization – had launched “The Gap Report” designed to furnish critical information and analysis aimed at bridging the remaining gaps among people affected by AIDS. Some of those killed in MH17 were involved in this project. Glenn’s job would have been to help journalists better understand what still needs to be done in order to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic.

MH17 was cold-blooded murder, not unlike 9/11. Despite intense counter-propaganda put out by Moscow, evidence now firmly points to the mafia-style Russian rebels supported by President Vladimir Putin, who obviously has not forgotten his KGB past, for firing the surface-to-air missile. Ironically, both Switzerland – as head of the OSCE – and Geneva – the world’s humanitarian, human rights and mediation capital – are indirectly involved with the Ukraine. But how many of us, including Glenn, could have imagined that a civilian airliner flying at 35,000 feet would fall victim to this out-of-control conflict? This is why we need to ensure that those responsible for this massacre not be allowed to get away with it.

Switzerland’s embarrassment: FIFA, Qatar and Blatter.

Now that the world can breathe again with Germany’s win at the 2014 World Cup, the Zurich-based Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) will need to start considering what soccer is supposed to be about. And what kind of message it should be sending to young people, who hold their heroes in the highest esteem, and need to understand the real meaning of sports and fair play.

Football should not be about head-butting or biting on the field. But nor should it be about corruption, racism, human rights abuses or the prohibitive mis-spending of funds for self-glorification, such as the much maligned FIFA film United Passions that cost an estimated CHF 28 million.

Yet, this is what FIFA and its controversial Swiss president Sepp Blatter, who is now unabashedly seeking a fifth term, have come to represent. And not just among adult critics, including the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in Nyon, but also young players. Local kids, including my son, playing with Swiss and French teams in the Lake Geneva region no longer perceive FIFA as being the convener of the World Cup, but rather “that organization” – one which promotes dishonesty and only responds to interests which have little to do with football. FIFA is not the sort of body to which parents, whether in Switzerland, Brazil or Ghana, should entrust the aspirations, passions and dreams of their soccer-playing children.

The London Sunday Times’ allegations that Qatar purchased the 2022 games with millions of dollars worth of bribes administered by disgraced FIFA vice-president Mohamed bin Hammanare now being investigated by former US attorney Michael Garcia as part of a semi-independent part of FIFA’s ethics committee. His report is expected to be revealed by FIFA toward the end of July. Mainly European and North American FIFA members are urging that, regardless of the outcome of the report, there should be a new vote regarding Qatar’s hosting.

But alleged bribery is not the only issue linked to Qatar. This wealthy Middle East country, which is seeking to improve its global credentials by buying into world culture, humanitarianism and other high profile issues, energetically sought to counter criticism of its mistreatment of foreign workers at the recent Human Rights Council in Geneva. According to Human Rights Watch and other groups, Qatar has failed to halt the abuse, including scores of deaths, of migrant labourers engaged in the construction of the 2022 soccer stadiums. This is another embarrassing quagmire in which FIFA now finds itself wallowing.

Corruption within the organization is being looked into by the FBI, Scotland Yard and other international investigators. Alexandra Wrage, President of the US-based non-profit anti-bribery group, Trace International, was part of an independent panel to investigate corruption allegations within FIFA, but quit last year out of frustration. She complained that FIFA was “resistant to change” and not taking the allegations seriously.

Lead FIFA sponsors, such as Adidas and CocaCola, are worried by the growing negative publicity surrounding Blatter and FIFA. Nonetheless, FIFA has reportedly earned over $4 billion in commercial sponsorship and television rights from Brazil 2014.

FIFA’s PR officials are pushing hard to present a credible, public face of concern, such as its suspension of the Nigerian Football Association for government interference earlier this month. The reality, however, is that FIFA has severe image problems. Even FIFA employees privately voice embarrassment over Blatter’s obsessive insistence on running for a fifth term, while UEFA members would like nothing better than to get rid of him. Yet given his support among FIFA’s African and Middle East members, Blatter clearly considers that he is in the right. He also looks set for a new term.

As the father of a keen soccer son, my question is: If Blatter really cares about football and its future among new generations, then why not resign and let new blood take the reins in order to create a cleaner and more transparent organization? If not, then Switzerland should consider whether it really needs to host an international agency that – under its present leadership – is so clearly unfit as a role model of sporting governance for our children.

Last week’s piece in Le News on US double taxation and the growing number of Americans relinquishing their citizenship has produced different reactions. These range from “exaggeration” by those who say complaining Americans are simply those who wish to “hide” their assets to “sadness” that US nationals should be obliged to hand over their passports in order not to be harassed. Then there is anger at those US politicians, particularly Tea Party zealots, who wish to punish Americans who dare live in places like Switzerland or France rather than the “homeland”.

Others, including middle class Americans struggling with a low dollar and the high cost of living in Switzerland, maintain that the best solution is to declare what you think you can get away with – and hope for the best. Those who have played by the rules, they argue, have only managed to make their lives miserable with complicated procedures, unexpected (double) back taxes, abusive fines or costly capital gains charges in addition to what they have had to pay to local authorities.

One is hearing similar concerns among Swiss and other foreigners, including North American and EU citizens, who have opted to live across the border. Given threats by Paris to tax any resident with assets abroad or personal wealth – a house, a painting or a sailboat – worth over one million Euros, people are wondering whether it is still worth remaining there. Or even to set up a business on French soil. Young French with a flair for making money are increasingly crossing into Switzerland with their ideas or moving to London, Shanghai or Los Angeles.

The fear is that even if you are not affected by France’s new rules, your children will be when it comes time to inherit. Any property in Switzerland is liable to be taxed by the French, regardless where it is located. (The Swiss cantons have yet to agree to this).

An estimated 15,000 Swiss are reported to be living ‘illegally’ in neighbouring France, that is, claiming to be resident in Geneva or Vaud but actually residing across the frontier. The French authorities have declared war on these ‘faux’ residents causing many to think twice. French customs officials often ask if one has a place in Switzerland, and how many rooms compared to one’s supposed “secondary” residence in France. If the Swiss place is bigger, you may be accused of living illegally on the French side. The fact that a two-room flat in Geneva or Lausanne might cost more than a six-room place in France does not seem to come into consideration.

One village in the Pays de Gex currently has 84 houses or apartments for sale, many of them owned by Swiss who are now moving back across the border. Less than two years ago, it was almost impossible to buy anything.

For those small entrepreneurs, who wish to set up in France, it is also becoming a nightmare. One local businessman, whose family has been living in the same village for three generations, said that he is now moving his business to Geneva. It is simply not worth operating in France, he complained. The government taxes you at every move, or imposes an administrative bureaucracy that cripples you from the start.

The problem is that not even the French tax or property lawyers really know what’s going on in Paris. The rules seem to change by the day. Maybe the new business to get into is to become a tax advisor, particularly one who can fathom Swiss, French and American procedures, mused one American friend with a French wife living in France but working in Geneva.

So given all this, it is interesting to note a story in this week’s International New York Times that, despite all the pressure from the United States – and the European Union – it is very much business as usual in the Swiss banking world. Bankers who cooperate with foreign officials and violate their “duty of absolute silence,” the article maintained, potentially face home raids, prison, fines for secrecy violations and industrial espionage, and the ostracism of colleagues and friends.

Furthermore, Swiss seem to be getting fed up with efforts by foreign governments to undermine this traditional secrecy. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC) is rapidly gaining enough signatures for a voter referendum that will basically tell Washington, Paris and others that they can take a hike when it comes to demands for tax information. Those Americans, French and other foreigners suffering punitive double taxation are the very foreigners the anti-immigration Swiss dislike. Ironically they may now consider the UDC their new allies.

The Independence Day celebrations for Canadians (1 July) and Americans (4 July) are reminders about identity. This is not always easy, particularly if one’s family consists of different nationalities with kids born in places such as Nairobi or Singapore, or attending school in Switzerland or France.

How does one explain what it means to be Canadian or American? Or Australian, South African, German, Ugandan, or Argentinean? All expatriates share the same challenges with children often having little or no idea where, or what, “home” really is.

As highlighted by Pam Taylor’s article on Toxic Americans, it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate as a US citizen abroad. At least 3,000 have, largely reluctantly, abandoned their nationality because of Washington’s almost unique double taxation laws. The burden has simply become too onerous.

The Fourth of July is supposed to be about “no taxation without representation”. Yet, despite the efforts of lobbying groups such as Democrats or Republicans Abroad, and even the IRS’s own attempts to streamline the process, Congress does not consider double taxation a priority. Nor does it recognize its detrimental impact on US business globally. Overseas Americans are perceived to be living high on the hog. While some have companies cover educational fees and other bills, most do not. For middle-class families, travelling, moving, housing, schooling and integration, come at a far heavier cost that many imagine.

As long as the Swiss and many expats have their teams (German, English, Spanish, Portuguese…) still in play, the World Cup is impossible to ignore. So it’s refreshing to have outdoor enthusiasts, such as the two Lausanne women, one who climbed Everest, the other who base-jumped off the Matterhorn, remind us about other things, notably mountains. Sophie Lavaud set out to climb the world’s highest peak, as reported in a previous issue of Le News, and not only succeeded but also raised funds for Norlha, an NGO supporting mountain communities.

Switzerland has one of the most advanced approaches to sustainable alpine development. This is where its expertise needs to be activated internationally, whether helping mountain villages in Afghanistan, Nepal or New Guinea, or initiating projects that will protect the environment with a more intelligent use of local resources, including water.

Bees are another issue. Europe and North America are facing a severe threat of not having enough pollinators, particularly for fruit trees. Switzerland barely produces a third of its own honey needs. Urban beekeeping, however, is doing well. Basel has too many bees competing for pollen, so residents are being asked to plant more flowers and go easy on the insecticides.

And finally, books. The repossession of Payot, Suisse romande’s leading book chain, by Pascal Vandenberghe is good news for Swiss publishing, local authors and readers. But the challenge remains: how to inspire young people to read.

LAUSANNE According to the World Tourism & Travel Council, the Swiss tourism industry should do well in 2014 with more visitors – and income – for the country. With the impact of climate change and growing competition from resorts elsewhere in the world, however, realising such improvement is not a given. Switzerland still needs to provide top quality with competitive prices, while exploring more innovative options for making its resorts both attractive – and sustainable.

The total contribution of Swiss tourism, including airline and rail travel, to the country’s economy was CHF 46.9 billion (7.8% of GDP) in 2013. This is expected to rise by 2.7% in 2014 and then 3.0% annually over the next decade to roughly CHF 64.5 billion. Job-wise, the industry supported 143,000 jobs or 3.0% of total employment. So the industry remains a key one.

Swiss resorts: Primed for the summer – and beyond

Growing numbers of Swiss resorts, however, are exploring – some desperately – new ways of appealing to visitors, and longer term residents, both from at home and abroad. For the 29 key resorts perched at above 2,800 m, they can guarantee white ski holidays during the winter, and make enough money to justify their investments. Others are not so lucky. They have to figure out how they can remain operational without having to rely on good snowfalls to cover the bulk of their costs. Or to have the bulk of their buildings – and shops – remain empty much of the year.

Some, such as Gstaad, Leukerbad, Champery and Villars, are already offering non-stop “everything” from specially tailored summer hiking and festivals to wildlife attractions, low-season conferences and gourmet food courses. The goal is to remain active and retain skilled personnel for as long as possible to avoid going seasonally “dead”.

But even with such initiatives, many are still finding it a slog. Switzerland’s alpine resorts need to become more far more imaginative. This means incorporating themselves more into the country’s overall industrial, agricultural and educational fabric without relying primarily on new construction that enriches the developers, but not a more sustainable environment.

One answer is improved public transportation, notably rail, but also state-of-the-art IT facilities, a challenge perhaps, for EPFL’s out-of-the-box thinkers. Plus the sort of support that provides big city facilities in small town resorts.

There is an inkling of this already. Growing numbers of entrepreneurs and even professionals are moving into the mountains on a part or full-time basis, and often with their families. They use the latest technology to remain in touch with their companies and clients. One British businessman in Chateau d’Oex makes one or two trips a month to Geneva and London, but runs the bulk of his business from a chalet using a UK number. Another does the same in Villars. An American, who used to be based out of Lausanne, runs a global real estate business in Crans-Montana. All their kids go to the local school and benefit from the mountains, both summer and winter, in a manner that they could only once do on an annual holiday.

Lyon – the largest city closest to Geneva – has long marketed itself as “the heart of Europe”. Whether this convinces investors is another matter. The Lake Geneva region has far more reason for assuming this role. For this to happen, it needs to become the pivotal hub of the “Lyons–Geneva–Milan triangle”, as one Swiss businessman put it at this week’s British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce regional conference.

While the Swiss side has a lot going for it, notably one of Europe’s easiest airports, razor-edge innovation led by the EPFL, an attractive economic environment and an exceptional quality of life, policymakers and urban planners need to think more in regional terms and without borders. They need to incorporate neighbouring France and even northern parts of Italy in this concept.

A far broader vision could dynamically transform this “Greater Geneva” into the real heart of Europe. This means sharing a more environmentally friendly development plan for public transport, car access and cycle routes, as well as fairly distributed housing that will not turn neighbouring France into a sprawling dormitory for Geneva. It also means creating better-paying French jobs.

Geneva’s State Council President François Longchamp recognizes the problems, but argues that Paris is partly to blame. He’s right on this. Paris acts as if the frontaliers don’t exist. One suggestion is to turn “France voisine” into a special economic zone linked to Geneva. It worked for Beijing, transforming the Chinese economy. The same could happen to France.

Edward Girardet