“Somewhat unsatisfactory”: St.Gallen SVP decides to approve the canton’s corona economic package

On November 29, the population of St. Gallen will vote retrospectively on the corona loans that the canton made available for the economy in the spring. In parliament, the SVP was also clearly in favor, but now it decides to allow votes – because a referendum would not change anything in any case.

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It’s just a formality: On November 29th, the population of St. Gallen will vote on the cantonal corona aid package for the economy. The 50 million francs that the government and parliament made available with an urgent decision in the spring have yet to be approved at the ballot box. Even if the program started a long time ago and the deadline for submitting loans expired at the end of August.

Gartmann: “A pro forma exercise”

In parliament, the Covid loans were fundamentally undisputed, from left to right. So far there has not been a voting campaign. However, not everyone is happy with the matter anymore: The SVP did not vote for the slogan, but for the vote – because it is only about approving an accomplished fact in a referendum. “A pro forma exercise,” says President Walter Gartmann. “From a democratic point of view, that’s a bit unsatisfactory.” The people can no longer change anything, the credits have already been granted, “the money is out”. The SVP therefore refrained from making a recommendation to the electorate. The SVP had clearly approved the law in parliament. In terms of content, it is still behind the template, as Gartmann says.

The canton has to pay a maximum of two million francs

Would a no at the ballot box really be completely ineffective? Vice State Secretary Jan Scheffler says: “In fact, a rejection of the law in the referendum would not have any immediate effects on the processing of the loans and solidarity guarantees that have already been granted. This also applies to the financing. ” The latter is less important than expected because the 50 million package was not used very much: around three million francs in loans and guarantees were granted. “Around one million francs of this is covered by the federal government. The maximum risk for the canton from the granting of solidarity guarantees is therefore around two million francs, ”said Scheffler.

Politically, however, a rejection of the law could certainly have consequences – if the government and parliament once again had to make urgent financial decisions: “The adoption of comparable measures in a comparable procedure would have to be assessed in a new light,” says Scheffler.