National Council insists on canceling the contribution to UNWRA
Published: Monday, Dec 18th 2023, 18:30
Updated At: Monday, Dec 18th 2023, 18:30
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The Councils are still divided over the 2024 budget. On Monday, the National Council insisted on the cancellation of Switzerland's contribution to the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA). It also said no to a contribution of CHF 25 million to the regional policy fund.
This means that the two most financially significant differences in the 2024 budget remain. The National Council upheld its earlier decision regarding UNWRA by 108 votes to 85. It thus followed the proposal of a narrow minority of its Finance Committee. The amount at stake is CHF 20 million.
In the previous week, the large chamber had adopted an individual motion by David Zuberbühler, a member of the SVP National Council from Ausserrhoden. Zuberbühler justified his demand for deletion by arguing that UNRWA employees had glorified terror against Israel and that the organization was taking a one-sided position in the Middle East conflict.
In addition to the SVP, most members of the centrist and FDP parliamentary groups were also in favor of deleting the contribution. It was a matter of credibility, said SVP parliamentary group spokesperson Lars Guggisberg (BE) on Monday. Switzerland's humanitarian tradition means helping poor people - and not indirectly promoting anti-Semitism and violence.
There are better channels than UNWRA to help the population in the region, said Markus Ritter (SG) on behalf of the Center Group.
"Lifeline for the population"
Christine Badertscher (Greens/BE), on the other hand, was of the opinion that the controls of the Department of Foreign Affairs were working. UNWRA was doing very important work in the Gaza Strip and was a lifeline for the local population.
In view of the desperation of the people in the Gaza Strip, it would be absolutely the wrong thing to do, said Claudia Friedl (SP/SG). UNWRA was one of the few aid organizations that could still be active in the Gaza Strip. Giving up support would be a victory for Hamas. "Then they are punishing the children, women and men - the civilian population."
Martin Bäumle (GLP/ZH) also criticized the deletion as arbitrary. Humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territories was necessary. However, the Green Liberals expected the Federal Council to take a closer look.
Mitte withdraws application
The Finance Committee successfully requested that the difference to the Council of States be maintained and that nothing be paid into the regional policy fund.
The Greens argued in vain to follow the line of the small chamber and approve a contribution of CHF 25 million. The same position was originally held by the Center Party. However, Nicolò Paganini (center/SG) withdrew a corresponding motion during the debate. He said that he could not justify submitting a budget to the Council of States that did not comply with the debt brake.
As a result, the majority of the Center Group voted in favour, while most representatives of the SP, SVP and FDP voted to waive the contribution.
There were also differences on smaller budget items before Monday's debate. These concerned federal funds for the Swiss National Park, the promotion of biodiversity and sugar beet production. All of these differences were resolved by the National Council on Monday, thereby dispensing with increases compared to the Federal Council's proposal.
Tug-of-war over army spending
However, the Councils are still divided on the financial plan for the years 2025 to 2027. The Council of States wants to increase military spending to 1% of gross domestic product by 2030. On Monday, the National Council insisted on a slower increase until 2035, which is also proposed by the Federal Council.
Last week, the councils had already agreed in principle to reduce the contributions to the rail infrastructure fund in order to be able to comply with the debt brake requirements in the budget for the coming year.
The move was necessary in particular because Parliament wants to forego a reduction in direct payments to farmers and increase funding for regional passenger transport by CHF 55 million compared to the Federal Council's proposal.
The final amount of the cut will depend on what Parliament decides on the outstanding points. The National Council's version currently amounts to CHF 36 million, while the Council of States' version is CHF 61 million.
Now it's the Council of States' turn again. It will discuss the budget for the third time on Tuesday morning.
©Keystone/SDA
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