SDA
The National Council is the first councilor to discuss the 2021 budget on Tuesday morning. The budget is always one of the major issues in the winter session. The Federal Council expects a deficit of 1.1 billion francs for the coming year.
The Finance Commission of the National Council (FK-N) requested 231 million francs more than the Federal Council. An additional 200 million should be added to the budget so that the money for the Corona hardship rule can be paid out from January 1st.
The Federal Council wanted to regulate the credit for hardship cases with a supplementary credit. Parliament would then only have discussed this in the spring session.
An application to increase this loan from CHF 200 million to CHF 1 billion, as the Federal Council decided at a later date, was rejected by 14 to 11 votes. As National Councilor Celine Widmer (SP / ZH) explained to the Finance Commission, this does not mean that they are not prepared to increase the amount. The increase could also be discussed again when the budget is being discussed.
The finance commission was very irritated by the fact that the airline was paying Swiss bonuses. “It’s strange and insensitive,” said Widmer. The federal government made Covid loans available to Swiss to ensure their liquidity. The commission demands from the Federal Council that everything is done to ensure that Swiss does not pay out any bonuses until these loans have been repaid.
Council of States Commission applies the brakes
The Finance Commission of the Council of States (FK-S) largely agreed with the Federal Council’s budget and did not request any increases. This principle should only be deviated from if the increase in one budget item can be compensated for in another item.
The majority argued that due to the difficult economic situation, in particular, a sharp drop in tax revenues must be expected. It is not the time to increase budget items without an emergency.
Accordingly, the Commission rejected most of the requests for more money. Unlike the Finance Commission of the National Council, the Council of States Commission does not want to increase funds in the area of child protection by around CHF 900,000. Unlike its sister commission, the Council of States commission also rejects a slight increase in direct payments in agriculture.
Like the National Council Commission, the FK-S is also pursuing the strategy of including the additional funds for the hardship rule in the 2021 budget. Parliament should adopt the hardship rule. The loan should then be included in the estimate with an application.
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