Council of States does not want cuts at Ukraine's expense

Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis also opposed the cut in aid to Ukraine in the Council of States. (archive picture)

Keystone

The Councils are still divided over the commitment credit for international cooperation in the years 2025 to 2028. The Council of States rejects the idea of providing CHF 200 million less in aid to Ukraine than requested by the Federal Council.

Keystone-SDA

16.12.2024, 15:40

By 25 votes to 17 with no abstentions, the small chamber took a step towards the National Council on Monday, but did not join it. Now it is once again the turn of the large chamber.

At the request of the majority of the pre-advisory committee, the Council of States reduced the credit by CHF 151 million compared to the Federal Council's proposal.

On Thursday, the upper chamber voted by a very narrow margin, with Council President Maja Riniker (FDP/AG) casting the deciding vote, to reduce the credit for aid abroad by CHF 351 million compared to the Federal Council's proposal.

The decision also provided for only CHF 1.3 billion to be earmarked for aid to Ukraine instead of the CHF 1.5 billion requested by the Federal Council. However, this cut did not find a majority in the Council of States, which explains the difference of CHF 200 million.

A left-wing minority of the Committee wanted to stick to the Council of States' earlier decision and approve the entire amount of CHF 11.3 billion requested by the Federal Council. This would have made roughly the same amount of money available for the International Cooperation Strategy (IC) for the years 2025 to 2028 as before. However, the Commission minority did not succeed with its request.