Agreement conference with new compromise proposal on UNRWA contribution
Published: Wednesday, Dec 20th 2023, 15:40
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In the dispute over the Swiss contribution to the Palestinian relief organization UNRWA, the Conciliation Conference has made a new compromise proposal. It wants to approve CHF 10 million for the organization, but wants to specify the conditions for disbursement.
The finance committees of both chambers presented their proposed solutions at a point de presse in Bern on Wednesday afternoon. The aim is to resolve the final differences between the National Council and the Council of States on the 2024 budget and the financial plan for the years 2025 to 2027.
The Council of States originally wanted to approve CHF 20 million for UNRWA. The National Council, however, voted to cancel the contribution.
The Council of States had already approached the National Council on the matter on Tuesday. It proposed halving the amount. However, it did not want to tell the Federal Council to save the reduced CHF 10 million for UNRWA. It merely demanded that the national government report regularly to parliament's foreign affairs committees on the Confederation's contributions to the UN organization.
This solution did not find a majority in the National Council on Wednesday morning. As a result, the agreement conference tightened the requirements in connection with the UNRWA contribution. Accordingly, the corresponding federal decree should explicitly state that the money should exclusively benefit the civilian population. Payment in installments is also planned. The obligation to report to Parliament would remain in place according to the proposal of the Unification Conference.
The two chambers have also disagreed so far on the promotion of regional business locations. On this point, the conciliation conference is resubmitting a compromise proposal from the Council of States to both chambers of Parliament. This would halve the CHF 25 million contribution to the Regional Policy Fund originally requested by the Federal Council - but not completely eliminate it, as the National Council had previously wanted.
On Thursday morning, the National Council and Council of States will decide on the proposal of the Unification Conference. The financial plan for the years 2025 to 2027 will also be discussed once again.
Army spending: For deadline until 2035
The Unification Conference requested that the deadline for increasing military spending be extended to 1% of gross domestic product by 2035. The position of the National Council thus prevailed in the negotiations of the Conference of Ministers. The Council of States had previously demanded that the target value be reached by 2030.
If there are still differences between the Councils after three detailed discussions of a draft decree in each Council, the committees of both Councils entrusted with the matter shall each send thirteen members to the conciliation conference.
The latter submits a proposal for agreement to both councils, which is intended to settle all remaining differences in their entirety. If one of the councils rejects the request for agreement, the entire bill is deemed to have failed.
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