Switzerland profile - Timeline
22 May 2018
A chronology of key events:
1291 - Origin of the Swiss confederation when three cantons form
an alliance to resist outside control.
1815 - In the wake of the Napoleonic wars, the borders of
Switzerland - and the territory's neutrality - are established at the
Congress of Vienna.
1848 - Federal constitution defines the political system, providing
for a centralised government.
1874 - Revised constitution allows for the exercise of direct
democracy by referendum.
1914-18 - Switzerland organises Red Cross units during World
War I.
1919-20 - Treaty of Versailles reaffirms Swiss neutrality.
1920 - Joins League of Nations. League's headquarters
established in Geneva.
1923 - Customs union with Liechtenstein.
1939-45 - Federal Council issues a declaration of neutrality at start
of World War II. Refuses to join United Nations.
Magic formula
1959 - Founder-member of European Free Trade Association (Efta).
Four party government system comes into being in a political
agreement know as the "magic formula" which lasts for decades and
brings a large measure of political stability.
1963 - Joins Council of Europe.
1967 - Right-wing groups campaign to restrict entry of foreign
workers.
1971 - Women granted right to vote in federal elections.
1979 - After referendum, French-speaking part of Bern becomes
separate canton of Jura.
1985 - Referendum guarantees women legal equality with men
within marriage.
1986 - Referendum opposes UN membership by three to one.
Immigrant numbers restricted.
1992 - Switzerland joins World Bank and International Monetary Fund
(IMF) but December referendum rejects membership of European
Economic Area - a free-trade zone.
1994 - Referendum approves law making racial discrimination and
denial of Nazi Holocaust illegal. Laws tightened against drugs
traffickers and illegal immigrants.
1995 - Swiss Banking Association announces - after pressure from
Jewish groups - it has uncovered dormant pre-1945 bank accounts
containing millions of dollars.
1998 August - Swiss banks agree $1.25bn compensation deal with
Holocaust survivors and families.
Right-wing gains
1999 October - General election strengthens right-wing vote. The
People's Party (SVP), led by Christoph Blocher, becomes second
strongest political force in the country with nearly a quarter of the
vote.
2001 March - Voters reject moves to open talks on joining the
European Union.
2001 June - Swiss vote narrowly in favour of allowing their soldiers to
carry weapons during peacekeeping missions abroad.
2001 September - Parliament votes overwhelmingly in favour of
United Nations membership, paving the way for a referendum on the
issue.
2001 October - Eleven die as huge fire breaks out after crash in
Gotthard tunnel.
2001 December - Voters reject proposal to scrap the army.
2002 January - Bankrupt national carrier Swissair relaunched as
Swiss.
2002 March - A narrow majority of Swiss vote in favour of joining the
United Nations in a referendum.
Bergier report by independent panel of historians finds that Swiss
authorities knew what lay in store for Jewish refugees to whom Swiss
borders were closed in 1942. The report also concluded that
Switzerland had bolstered the economy of Nazi Germany but not to a
degree that prolonged the war.
2002 June - Swiss people vote in referendum to decriminalise
abortion which will be allowed in first 12 weeks of pregnancy. A
proposal which would have tightened the already strict abortion law is
rejected in a separate referendum.
UN membership
2002 September - Switzerland formally becomes a member of the
UN.
2002 November - By narrowest of margins, referendum rejects
drastic tightening of asylum laws.
2003 May - Nine different issues put to referendum. Swiss vote against
abolition of nuclear power, new proposals on rights for the disabled and
the introduction of car-free Sundays but in favour of army cuts and
changes to civil defence.
2003 October - The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) becomes
the biggest force in parliament after winning almost 28% of the vote in
general elections.
2003 December - Parliament agrees to grant right-wing Swiss
People's Party second post in seven-seat government at the expense
of the Christian Democrats, altering the "magic formula" which had
brought stability to Swiss politics since 1959.
2004 May - Agreement signed with EU on taxing accounts held in
Swiss banks by EU taxpayers.
2004 September - Voters in a referendum reject moves to relax strict
naturalisation laws. The result is seen as a victory for the right-wing.
2004 November - Referendum votes in favour of allowing scientific
research using stem cells taken from human embryos.
Immigration debate
2005 June - Voters in referendum support joining EU Schengen and
Dublin agreements and extending rights for same-sex couples.
In the most serious breakdown in Swiss railway history, power failure
brings trains to a standstill for several hours.
2005 September - Referendum vote goes in favour of opening job
market to workers from the
10 newest European Union countries.
2005 November - Referendum backs five-year ban on use of
genetically modified crops.
2006 September - Voters in a national referendum back plans to make
their asylum laws among the toughest in the West.
2007 January-May - Ex-directors of Swissair, which collapsed in 2001,
are in the dock in Switzerland's biggest corporate trial. They are all
cleared.
2007 September - Row over Swiss People's Party's ''kick out the black
sheep'' poster aimed at deporting foreigners who commit crimes.
2007 October - Elections. Swiss People's Party (SVP) boosts its
standing as the biggest group in parliament, scooping nearly 29% of
the vote.
2007 December - Swiss People's Party (SVP) quits the governing
coalition after one of its leaders, Christoph Blocher, is forced from his
cabinet seat.
2008 June - Voters reject referendum initiative to limit naturalisation of
foreigners by allowing Swiss communes to vote on individual cases.
2008 October - Libya cancels all oil deliveries to Switzerland and
withdraws assets worth billions of dollars from Swiss banks in
response to the arrest of leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Hannibal.
Mr Gaddafi and his wife were detained for assault but the charges
were later dropped.
Switzerland unveils a $5.3bn rescue plan for its largest bank, UBS,
which was badly hit by the global credit crisis.
2008 December - Swiss People's Party (SVP) rejoins the governing
coalition with the election of party member Ueli Maurer to the Federal
Council.
Switzerland scraps routine passport controls at all its borders after
joining the EU's Schengen Agreement.
Recession
2009 January - Swiss economy officially goes into recession.
2009 March - Switzerland's government announces it will relax its
rules on banking secrecy to allow Swiss financial institutions to cooperate
with international investigations into tax evasion.
2009 September - Swiss economy returns to growth.
2009 November - Swiss voters approve referendum initiative banning
the construction of minarets.
2010 September - Election of fourth female minister to seven-member
Federal Council gives Swiss cabinet majority of women for first time
ever.
2010 November - Swiss voters approve referendum initiative on
automatically deporting foreigners who have committed serious
crimes.
2011 February - Voters in a referendum reject plans for tighter gun
controls.
2011 May - In the wake of the crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear
plant, Switzerland becomes the first country in Europe to announce
plans to phase out nuclear power.
2011 September - The government announces that the Swiss franc is
to be pegged to the euro, after Swiss manufacturers warn that the
currency's strength is making Swiss exports uncompetitive and risks
tipping the country back into recession.
2011 October - Right-wing Swiss People's Party loses ground in
parliamentary elections, but remains the largest party.
Immigration debate
2012 April - The government re-imposes immigration quotas on
workers from central and eastern European Union countries, through a
"safeguard clause" in its agreement with the EU on freedom of
movement. The EU criticises the decision.
2012 November - The Ecopop environmentalist group collects
enough signatures to force a national referendum to cap annual
population growth at 0.2%, by drastically restricting immigration.
2013 June - Lower house of parliament refuses to debate bill to
allow banks to pass client information to US tax authorities in pursuit
of American tax evaders. US has threatened to deny Swiss banks
access to dollar markets unless the country complies.
2013 September - Voters reject a proposal to scrap military
conscription.
2014 February - A Swiss People's Party proposal to bring back strict
quotas for immigration from European Union countries is narrowly
passed in a national referendum, invalidating a Swiss-EU agreement
on freedom of movement.
2014 November - Voters reject a proposal backed by the
environmentalist pressure group Ecopop for net immigration to be
limited to a maximum of 0.2% of the population.
2015 January - The Swiss National Bank responds to the steep
depreciation of the euro during 2014 by abruptly terminating the
pegging of the franc to the euro introduced in 2011. The move
causes the franc to soar and prompts warnings of serious damage to
Switzerland's struggling tourism and export sectors.
2016 June - Voters in a referendum reject a proposal to introduce an
unconditional basic income.
2017 February - A measure to make it easier for third generation
immigrants to become citizens is approved in a referendum.
2017 May - Voters in a referendum approve plans to phase out
nuclear energy.
2018 March - Voters in a referendum reject a proposal to abolish the
mandatory licence fee for public broadcasting.
Media
Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Zurich-based daily
Tages-Anzeiger - Zurich-based daily
Le Temps - Geneva-based daily
La Tribune de Geneve - daily
Corriere del Ticino - Lugano-based daily
Television
SF-DRS - German-language public broadcaster, operates 3 channels
RTSI - Italian-language public broadcaster, operates 2 channels
TSR - French-language public broadcaster, operates 2 channels
Radio
SR-DRS - German-language public broadcaster, operates 5 stations
RSR - French-language public broadcaster, operates 4 stations
RSI - Italian-language public broadcaster, operates 4 stations
RR - Rumansch-language public radio station
News agency/internet
swissinfo - news portal operated by public broadcaster, pages in
English
SDA - Swiss News Agency (SDA/ATS)