Left and center dissatisfied with the Federal Council’s savings proposals
Published: Friday, Sep 20th 2024, 17:50
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The federal government's savings proposals have met with a mixed response from political parties and associations. While the Left sees this as an unacceptable reduction, the FDP would like to make cuts in other areas. For the center, the package is unbalanced.
On Friday, the Greens described the measures presented by the Federal Council as a right-wing conservative dismantling program. The right-wing government majority wants to set back climate and environmental protection by years.
The planned savings measures of almost one billion in climate and environmental protection accounted for a quarter of the cuts, the party pointed out. It announced that it would fight these cuts as well as cuts to supplementary childcare, AHV, education and research.
"Attack on social Switzerland"
The Social Democrats were equally fierce in their criticism. They spoke of a "clear-cutting at the expense of the people". It was an attack on social Switzerland. The SP will fight this with all its might.
"In addition to the increase in the army, the alleged financial policy bottlenecks are due to the ideological tunnel vision in the Finance Department," the party wrote in a communiqué on Friday.
SGB criticizes debt brake
The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions called for changes to the debt brake. Instead of balanced finances, this produces surpluses at the expense of the population.
The SGB also wants to hold the cantons accountable. It is clear that the federal government is having to take on more and more of the cantons' tasks because they are not doing their job. This needs to be changed.
The Swiss Transport Club (VCS) also considers the Federal Council's savings plans to be unacceptable. Around 300 million in public transport and almost 500 million in climate protection: this is "saving with a lawnmower".
The transport club is particularly disturbed by the fact that the freeways are to be expanded with 5.3 billion and that this amount is not questioned "with a single syllable".
Mitte wants to talk about additional revenue
The centrist party also reacted cautiously to the state government's plans. For the Center Party, the Federal Council's savings plans presented on Friday focus too one-sidedly on the expenditure side. The party is calling for a more balanced proposal.
The Federal Council is simply handing over the expert report on federal savings measures to parliament virtually unchanged, wrote the center on the X platform (formerly Twitter). Parliament is then supposed to "carve out a good solution". However, the Federal Council is not fulfilling its responsibility to govern.
FDP wants to save even more
The FDP was also only half satisfied - but for completely different reasons. The party welcomed the Federal Council's savings proposals as a "courageous first step". However, it opposes the fact that the federal government is also relying on higher revenues to stabilize the federal finances. Instead, even more savings should be made.
Switzerland does not have a revenue problem, but a spending problem, the party wrote: "It is now urgent to spend less money, not to take more money out of the wallets of middle-class taxpayers. "
The Green Liberals called for clear priorities to be set. In a statement, the party welcomed the Federal Council's efforts in principle. However, the GLP wrote that it would not support savings along the lines of "continuing to subsidize the past instead of investing in the future". Instead, privileges for individual sectors and subsidies should be abolished.
Impending end of Swissinfo
The Federal Council's plans regarding SRG's international offering also met with criticism from those affected. Waiving the federal contribution of almost CHF 19 million would effectively mean the end of the ten-language platform Swissinfo, wrote media union Schweizer Syndikat Medienschaffender (SSM). There is a threat of hundreds of job losses and a loss of media diversity.
SRG itself confirmed that it would not be able to maintain its international offering if the federal contribution were to be withdrawn. This would be a serious disadvantage both for the Swiss abroad and for Switzerland's presence abroad, it wrote in a statement.
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