The Council of States is currently discussing the 2023 budget. The Small House is planning more funds for reconstruction aid in Ukraine.
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the essentials in a nutshell
- Switzerland is currently planning winter aid for Ukraine worth CHF 100 million.
- The Council of States wants to provide another 44 million francs more for the country at war.
The Council of States wants to provide more funds than expected for civilian aid to Ukraine. As part of the debate on the 2023 budget, he asked to provide around 44 million francs more. The amount was pronounced at the request of a minority around the Vaudois FDP Olivier Français Council of States.
The money is urgently needed as civilian structures in Ukraine are also being systematically destroyed, he told the Council of States on Monday. It is not emergency humanitarian aid and certainly not weapons, but “often vital repairs” of destroyed infrastructure. The funds are not budget increases, but reallocations of funds that “are not taken from anyone”.
Finance Minister Ueli Maurer opposed this additional “reconstruction aid”, as he called it. “With this increase, we cannot guarantee whether the money is really available for reconstruction or whether we will find specific projects,” said Maurer. The planned winter aid of 100 million francs is planned for this, which will solve the current problems. Reconstruction aid will later be an important project, but now humanitarian aid is needed.
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