Wed, Mar 13th 2024
Swiss National Council intensifies scrutiny over Swiss Post’s acquisitions, demanding a new approval process to ensure alignment with its constitutional mandate.
The National Council is keeping up the pressure on the issue of company acquisitions by Swiss Post. It has adopted a second motion demanding that the company must obtain approval for acquisitions.
On Wednesday, the upper chamber adopted a motion by Matthias Samuel Jauslin, FDP National Councillor from Aargau, by 112 votes to 80 with one abstention. The motion will go to the Council of States.
“Swiss Post should concentrate on its constitutional mandate and not manage private markets that are already well supplied,” said Jauslin.
Today, private companies are competing unfairly, he criticised. At the same time, Swiss Post is making savings on letter deliveries and the post office network.
Jauslin’s proposal specifically calls for an unspecified “suitable approval procedure”, whereby Swiss Post would have to disclose the profitability analysis for their major acquisitions.
Jacqueline Badran (SP/ZH) countered Jauslin by saying that the conservatives had wanted Swiss Post to act as an entrepreneur. Federal Councillor Albert Rösti also said that it was in line with parliament’s mandate that the national government should not interfere in Swiss Post’s operational business.
In its written statement, the Federal Council wrote that Swiss Post is facing major challenges. It had to provide the universal service without subsidies. At the same time, letter volumes and over-the-counter transactions were declining.
©Keystone/SDA
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