Federal finances President of the Association of Towns and Cities opposes the federal government's austerity program
The Association of Cities has opposed the federal government's relief program. The interests of the cities are not being given enough consideration and the system of burden-sharing is endangered in extreme cases by the Federal Council's plans, said the association's president.
30.03.2025, 00:31
SDA
"The cities have been left out in the cold," said Anders Stokholm, President of the Association of Cities and Mayor of Frauenfeld TG, in an interview with the newspaper "NZZ am Sonntag". They had not been able to put forward their point of view. Most of the measures would affect cities and their agglomerations, where three quarters of the total population now live.
In its relief program, the Federal Council envisages cuts of CHF 140 million in the socio-demographic equalization of burdens for the costs of the centers, said the FDP politician. The canton of Zurich alone would lose CHF 36 million a year. Stokholm feared a domino effect in which cities and municipalities would foot the bill. In extreme cases, this could jeopardize the entire system of burden sharing.
The cities would also be directly and immediately affected by the prioritization of climate policy subsidies with the reduction of CHF 380 million in the buildings programme. A further CHF 200 million per year is likely to be lost from the rail infrastructure fund and CHF 100 million from the National Roads and Agglomeration Transport Fund.
Integration at risk according to the association
According to Stokholm, the cities are particularly bothered by the cut in integration allowances for asylum seekers. This jeopardizes the joint integration agenda of the federal government, cantons and municipalities. Without integration, people would end up on social welfare - with huge costs for cities and municipalities.
According to Stokholm, interventions by the Association of Cities with his FDP party colleague and Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter were unsuccessful. Once again, the cities had to experience that they were not included. In general, the President of the Association of Towns and Cities lamented the low level of awareness of urban issues in the federal parliament.
https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/wenn-der-bund-in-den-krisenmodus-schaltet-gehen-die-anderen-staatlichen-ebenen-vergessen-ld.1877209
