Federal finances Civic admonishers in the Council of States warn against additional expenditure
The Council of States began discussing the budget for 2026 on Tuesday. The conservatives warned against more spending. Representatives of the left, on the other hand, called for further cuts to be avoided.
02.12.2025, 09:27
SDA
There were words of caution from the conservative side. The budget was "a brief brightening before a low-pressure area in the coming years", said Jakob Stark (SVP/TG), President of the Finance Committee, at the start of the debate.
The Finance Committee is requesting that CHF 70 million be brought forward for armaments expenditure, said Stark. However, a further acceleration of army armament than already decided would have to be financed extraordinarily.
Peter Hegglin (center/ZG) also warned against more spending and criticized the growth in personnel at the federal government: "Soon we will be able to celebrate the 40,000th full-time position in the administration." The committee would therefore like to see the cost of living increase waived and cuts in public relations work.
"The situation is relaxed thanks to painful savings," replied Eva Herzog (SP/BS). Due to cuts already made, particularly in development cooperation, the budget for 2026 looks good. No further cuts should now be made to development cooperation, the environment and personnel.
Herzog warned that the opportunity should be used for sustainable investments. Baptiste Hurni (SP/NE) also said that the predicted financial doomsday had not materialized. "Let's stop talking about a difficult situation and a spending problem".
Beat Rieder (center/VS) urged adherence to the debt brake. Only a financially strong state can be a social state, he said. Benedikt Würth (center/SG) warned that defense capability must be a priority and recalled the decision to increase army spending to one percent of national economic output by 2032.
