New proposal causes controversy Price watchdog calls for radical postal cut - Rösti immediately blocks it

Should the federal government waive the annual Swiss Post dividend in the millions in future? At least that's the suggestion of the price watchdog, who wants to use it to prevent price increases and cuts in the restructuring of Swiss Post.

Every year, the federal government receives dividends in the millions from Swiss Post's profits. This should now come to an end, at least according to price watchdog Stefan Meierhans.

In a discussion paper on the revision of the Postal Act, Meierhans argued that the federal government should refrain from paying a postal dividend in future. This would "help to avoid or mitigate price increases or service cuts", according to the document, which was also made available to Keystone-SDA. This was first reported by "Blick".

Costs should not be borne by customers

As the owner, the federal government should fulfill its responsibility for a reliable and future-oriented universal service instead of relying on financial distributions, the price watchdog wrote.

With the legal requirements for the universal service, the federal government is imposing considerable costs on Swiss Post, which ultimately have to be borne by customers. It is therefore "only logical" for the Confederation to forego a dividend in return.

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In addition, Swiss Post already makes a voluntary contribution to the federal budget by also paying VAT. According to the price watchdog, the levy places an additional burden on customers and would not be possible under competitive conditions.

In the letter, Meierhans also points out that safeguarding the basic postal service "cannot be achieved primarily through repeated price increases".

Rösti rejects proposal

Meanwhile, the Federal Council rejects the price watchdog's proposal. According to "Blick", Post Minister Albert Rösti, who is planning to restructure Swiss Post to reduce costs, has examined the possibility of financial compensation from the federal government, but has rejected it. According to the SVP Federal Councillor, Swiss Post could continue to finance itself in the future.

Adaptation to new needsFederal Council does not want to reduce basic postal services - for the time being

SP Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, on the other hand, has a more open view of the proposal: if necessary, the possibility of financial support for the universal service by the federal government would have to be re-examined.