Grand Council BS Basler Personenschifffahrt AG only receives reduced contributions
The canton of Basel-Stadt will support Basler Personenschifffahrt AG with CHF 537,000 per year in 2024 and 2025. This amount is still below the amount of just under one million francs per year requested by the government for the next five years.
After an emotional debate, the Grand Council voted 87 to 2 in favor of the state contributions. However, the majority of council members from the conservative parties and the GLP had previously voted 47 to 43 in favor of significantly reducing the contributions requested by the government.
The cantonal government and the majority of the Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee (WAK), which was responsible for the preliminary deliberations, wanted to provide fundamental support for Basel's ailing passenger shipping industry. They proposed almost doubling the state contributions from 506,000 to 996,000 in the years 2024 to 2028. They also requested a capital increase of CHF 1.25 million and the waiver of the repayment of the coronavirus loan of CHF 1.8 million.
The payments are to be combined with an adjustment or improvement of the offer. Among other things, a future with only two instead of three ships is to be aimed for. The relatively small ship MS Baslerdybli, built in 1980, is to be decommissioned in 2027.
No money in reserve
The committee minority made up of representatives from the conservative parties and the GLP did not want to give the company money in advance - especially not for the catering sector. They proposed an inflation-adjusted contribution of CHF 537,000 for 2024 only. It also wanted to waive the repayment of the loan to the company, but not grant a capital increase.
Franz-Xaver Leonhardt, a member of the Central Committee, tabled a compromise proposal between these two motions: this consisted of a subsidy extended to two years at the previous level. In addition to waiving the repayment of the loan, Leonhardt also included an increase in share capital of CHF 1.25 million in the proposal.
As head of the Department of Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, Kaspar Sutter showed a certain amount of understanding for the concern of the conservative parties and the GLP to reduce the subsidy period for the time being. However, he did not agree with the proposal to leave the annual contributions at their current level. This was not fair. "The current state contribution is too low, and we all know that," he warned.
Left-wing council in favor of higher contributions
The SP and the GAB also spoke out in favor of the generous option. This was also with a view to being able to pay staff decent wages and keep the prices for using the boats at a family-friendly level, as GAB spokesperson Fina Girard said.
SP spokesperson Beda Baumgartner accused the conservative parties and the GLP of steering the passenger ships on the Rein towards an iceberg by underfunding them and thus endangering jobs.
FDP spokesperson Luca Urgese, however, said that the canton should at least keep the company on a long leash and thus force it to make the operational corrections that were deemed necessary.
