Expert group scrutinizes the federal budget
Published: Friday, Mar 8th 2024, 14:00
Back to Live Feed
A group of experts headed by the former head of the Federal Finance Administration, Serge Gaillard, is scrutinizing the Confederation's tasks and subsidies. The committee is to submit proposals to the Federal Council by late summer to eliminate the structural deficits in the federal budget.
The Federal Council appointed the five-member group on Friday, as it announced. In addition to Gaillard, former National Councillor Ursula Schneider Schüttel (SP/FR), former National Councillor Jacques Bourgeois (FDP/FR) and Professors Aymo Brunetti and Christoph Schaltegger have been entrusted with the task.
The group of experts is to review all federal tasks and subsidies. According to the Federal Council, the first budget cuts are to be implemented from 2026-2027 on the basis of the expert group's proposals.
The Federal Council is expected to convene a round table with the cantons, political parties and social partners in fall 2024, as it wrote. From winter 2024/2025, it will carry out regular consultations on the defined measures and thus consult the interested parties.
Financing the 13th AHV pension soon to be an issue
According to financial planning, the structural deficits in the federal budget will amount to up to CHF 4 billion per year in the medium term. This is due in particular to rising expenditure for the AHV and the army.
The 13th AHV pension, which was approved at the ballot box last Sunday, will cost the federal government an additional CHF 875 million from 2026. The responsible Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) will present proposals to the Federal Council in March, as the Federal Council wrote.
The Federal Council recently decided that it wants to regain strategic room for maneuver in the future so that it does not have to continue to work with linear cuts every year. It does not want to touch the debt brake.
Instead, priority is to be given to federal expenditure. In addition, the Federal Council commissioned a variant with which part of the deficit is to be covered by additional revenue.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic