Switzerland is considered one of the richest countries in the world, but there is an enormous amount of poverty. Energy prices, inflation and high healthcare costs could exacerbate the situation. About a country that struggles with politics based on solidarity.
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Isabel Pfaff, Zurich
The above and the below are close together in Zurich. It takes less than a quarter of an hour to walk from Bahnhofstrasse, with its high-end boutiques and camel-hair coats, to number one Reitergasse. There, in an unadorned brick building, people shop who would even be hurt by the price of an espresso on Bahnhofstrasse. The older man with a crocheted hat, for example, who puts fresh leeks and pointed cabbage in his basket. Or the young Ukrainian woman in front of the refrigerated section who fled to Switzerland six months ago. She comes here often, she says in English. “It’s just too expensive in the other supermarkets.”