Councils converge on cutting the foreign aid budget
Published: Thursday, Dec 12th 2024, 11:30
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In the dispute over cuts to foreign aid next year, the councils are coming closer together. On Thursday, the lower chamber decided to cut the corresponding budget items by a total of CHF 71 million. The National Council wants to save CHF 170 million.
This is the largest remaining difference in terms of amount when discussing the 2025 federal budget. The foreign aid cuts are necessary in order to keep the budget in line with the debt brake after Parliament decided to increase the armed forces by a good half a billion francs.
The Council of States originally wanted to reduce spending on foreign aid by a total of CHF 30 million. Last week, the National Council decided on cuts of CHF 250 million, and on Wednesday it revised the savings target to CHF 170 million.
According to the latest proposal by the Council of States, the funds for bilateral development cooperation and for contributions to multilateral organizations are to be cut by CHF 25 million each. For economic cooperation at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), CHF 21 million less is earmarked than estimated by the Federal Council.
Over twenty outstanding differences
Next week, the councils will discuss the bill again. More than twenty differences remain. In addition to foreign aid, there are still major differences, particularly with regard to wage measures.
If the councils fail to reach an agreement after three rounds of consultations, a conciliation conference is set up to draw up a compromise proposal for the outstanding differences. If a council rejects the proposal for agreement, the lower amount of the budget item in question is deemed to have been accepted.
The structural surplus of the federal budget - i.e. the room for maneuver in accordance with the debt brake - amounts to CHF 37.5 million with the current resolutions of the National Council and CHF 33.4 million with those of the Council of States. Both Councils are therefore currently complying with the debt brake.
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