Dismay from Swiss expats at consulate closures

Cuts in Switzerland’s diplomatic network and a reform of regulations for Swiss schools abroad have marked discussions at a meeting of the governing body of the expatriate organisation. The assembly in the city of Lausanne on Friday heard some details about the latest round of changes at embassies and consulates general, notably in the United States and Canada. As part of a cost-cutting programme launched by parliament, the consulates general in Chicago and Toronto will be closed, while the office in Los Angeles is set to be downgraded, while two separate consular units in New York are to be merged by the end of 2014. “The good news is that this is the final round of planned consolidations. We hope to have fulfilled the cost-cutting demands,” Gerhard Brügger, senior official in the foreign ministry, told the Council of the Swiss Abroad. Embassies and consulates in Latin America, notably in Guatemala, Havana, La Paz, as well as in eastern Europe, the Gulf region and ...