Grand Council BE The decisions of the Bernese Grand Council

On Tuesday, the Bernese cantonal parliament

- adopted a motion from the ranks of the EPP calling for stronger measures for flood protection on the Emme. At the same time, the parliament wrote off the motion, i.e. considered the demands to be settled. The canton was already in the process of expanding flood protection along the Emme, argued Christoph Neuhaus (SVP), the government councillor responsible.

- The cantonal council unanimously decided that rail services in the Emmental should be strengthened. It passed a corresponding cross-party motion.

- a proposal from the GLP, which wanted to repurpose the area of the large mural in the Grand Council Chamber and operate the town hall in a CO2-neutral manner, was rejected with a resounding majority.

- A motion by Simone Leuenberger (EPP) was also rejected and written off by a majority. Among other things, Leuenberger called for disabled parking spaces to be planned even if no other parking facilities are provided.

- A motion by Melanie Gasser (GLP) was passed by 137 votes to 0: The cantonal government should place liquidity assistance for hospitals on a proper legal basis.

- A motion by Andreas Michel (SVP) was adopted by 144 votes to 0. The cantonal government should review the future structure of psychiatric care in the canton of Berne.

- A cross-party motion calling for the shortage of general practitioners and paediatricians to be remedied was adopted. In future, the canton should provide better support for doctors setting up in practice and support projects to establish group practices.

- In addition, a motion by Anna Tanner (SP) calling for the provision of psychiatric crisis intervention was passed almost unanimously. For example, the canton should ensure sufficient and decentralized crisis beds and develop measures to recruit sufficient specialists.

- almost unanimously approved an object credit of a maximum of half a million francs per year for the Swiss Jazz School in Bern for the years 2025 to 2028.

- took note of the annual reports of the University of Bern, the Bern University of Applied Sciences and the Bern University of Teacher Education. It also approved a planning declaration by the Education Committee: the cantonal contributions of the universities and the performance mandates should take appropriate account of the personnel measures specified by the canton.

- At its first reading, the cantonal parliament began the debate on the new Cantonal Civil Protection Act (KBSG).