Council of States approves budget for the coming year
Published: Tuesday, Dec 5th 2023, 05:50
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On Tuesday, the Council of States will be the first chamber to debate the budget for the coming year. Spending on agriculture in particular is likely to be a talking point. The majority of the Finance Committee of the Council of States (FK-S) would like to spend more money in this area than the Federal Council - despite the tight financial situation.
A majority of the Council of States committee is of the opinion that agriculture has already contributed to the restructuring of federal finances and that its budget has not been increased to the same extent as that of other areas of federal expenditure.
Controversial direct payments
Compared to the Federal Council's proposal, the FK-S wants agricultural direct payments to be CHF 27.4 million higher next year. A strong minority of the Commission even wants to double this amount - and thus leave direct payments for 2024 at the 2023 level.
In addition, the Council of States Committee is requesting CHF 3.9 million more for the breeding and preservation of Swiss animal breeds, CHF 6.2 million more for the promotion of Swiss wine, CHF 2.0 million more for sugar beet production and CHF 4 million more for herd protection.
No money for regional policy
To compensate for these additional funds, the Commission is requesting that no contribution be made to regional policy for 2024. The corresponding fund is sufficiently filled.
The FK-S is also of the opinion that the Federal Assembly must participate in the federal government's savings efforts and wants to apply the cross-sectional reduction of around 2 percent to it as well (-2.2 million francs). The same applies to the Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Administrative Court. The Commission is requesting a 1.5% reduction in funding for the courts - this corresponds to a minus of CHF 1.6 million and CHF 1.3 million respectively.
The Commission also rejects increasing the contribution to the ETH Domain by an additional CHF 25 million for 2024. And it is against increasing the contribution to regional passenger transport by CHF 55 million for 2024.
Federal Council had to make improvements
The Federal Council originally adopted a budget for parliament in August that was just about compatible with the debt brake. However, it later had to revise it. The reason for this was that UBS terminated its loss absorption guarantee.
As a result, the budgeted income from the maintenance fee and the expenses budgeted in this context were eliminated. This resulted in a structural financing deficit of CHF 22 million.
In order to remedy this situation, the Federal Council submitted follow-up reports to parliament: Initially, fewer federal contributions to correctional facilities for administrative detention are now planned because fewer places are being built in two cantons. Parliament has also approved less money for Switzerland Tourism than was expected in the summer.
And due to delays, the federal government will not receive the remaining assets of the dissolved Alcohol Board until 2024 instead of 2023 as planned.
Little financial leeway
The national government had already decided on extensive cost-cutting measures in the original draft budget. At the same time, it requested extraordinary expenditure - for example for refugees from Ukraine (CHF 1.2 billion) and for the Swiss Federal Railways (CHF 1.2 billion).
The pressure on the federal finances is likely to remain high in the near future. Between 2025 and 2027, the Federal Council expects structural deficits of two to three billion francs per year without cuts. According to its statement, expenditure for refugees from Ukraine, for premium reductions and the AHV as well as the growth in military expenditure against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine will have a particular impact.
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