National Council is against the permanent guarding of the Federal Palace
Published: Thursday, Dec 7th 2023, 12:00
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The National Council would like to reduce the Confederation's own expenditure by almost CHF 6 million compared to the Federal Council's proposals. This was decided after initial discussions on the 2024 federal budget. Among other things, this concerns the security of the Federal Palace.
The Federal Council wants to allocate an additional million in the 2024 budget to improve the protection of the parliament building at night and at weekends. The Grand Chamber rejected this proposal on Thursday by 185 votes to 2, following the lead of its Finance Committee (FK-N).
National Council Vice-President Maja Riniker (FDP/AG) pointed out on behalf of the administrative delegation that the parliament building was increasingly becoming a target for activists. Without the night and weekend service of the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), security deficits would remain. However, the Council took a different view.
The National Council saw further potential for cuts in the personnel costs of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). It cut the Office's global budget by CHF 1.8 million.
Dispute over salaries of federal employees
In line with the Council of States, the Grand Chamber also decided that current expenditure for the Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Administrative Court should increase less than budgeted compared to 2023. Overall, Parliament wants to spend around CHF 3 million less than the government. The decision also affects the financial plan for 2025 to 2027.
The SVP also called for all general salary measures for federal administration employees to be abandoned. Michael Götte (SVP/SG) argued that salaries paid there today were significantly higher than those in the private sector. However, this motion did not receive a majority.
There was also no chance of the SVP making further cuts to the personnel costs of various units of the administration and parliament. "It would be wrong to make cuts in the institutions," said Barbara Gysi (SP/SG), President of the Federal Staff Association.
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