Politics These issues are among the focal points of the fall session
Numerous major dossiers await the National Council and the Council of States in the fall session. The session starts on Monday (today) and lasts until September 27. Below is an overview of important business in chronological order:
09.09.2024, 04:30
SDA
NAHOST: The National Council begins the session with a debate on the Middle East conflict. A conservative majority of the Foreign Affairs Committee is calling for a motion to redirect the Swiss basic contribution for 2024 to the UN Palestinian relief organization Unrwa in favour of emergency aid for the Palestinian civilian population. There should no longer be direct transfers to Unrwa. The Federal Council rejects this. At the beginning of May, it released CHF 10 million for Unrwa following an emergency appeal by the controversial aid organization. Two other motions on the agenda demand the immediate cessation of contributions to the aid organization and a reform of refugee aid for Palestinians as a successor solution to Unrwa. (24.3194, 24.3469 and 24.3815, on the agenda of the National Council on September 9)
ENVIRONMENT: The Council of States starts the session with the environmental responsibility initiative. Its responsible committee is proposing a no vote, as the Federal Council and National Council have already decided. The initiative "for a responsible economy within planetary boundaries (environmental responsibility initiative)" wants Switzerland's economic activities to consume only enough resources and release only enough pollutants to preserve the natural foundations of life. A minority in the Council of States wants to accept the initiative. The Alliance for Environmental Responsibility is behind the initiative. If the initiative is approved, Switzerland would have to significantly reduce its environmental impact caused by domestic consumption within ten years. (24.021, on the agenda of the Council of States on September 9)
FAMILY REUNIFICATION: The discrimination against Swiss nationals in family reunification from third countries compared to EU citizens is an issue in the Council of States. The National Council's Political Institutions Committee has drafted a bill on the subject, but a narrow majority of the responsible committee of the Council of States now refuses to accept it. According to the majority, it is not possible to estimate how many additional migrants would come to Switzerland as a result of the planned change in the law. The minority believes that there is no justification for putting Swiss nationals at a disadvantage compared to EU and EFTA nationals when it comes to family reunification. (19.464, on the agenda of the Council of States on September 10)
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH: The Council of States is debating the funds that the Confederation will make available for education, research and innovation (ERI) over the next four years. The Federal Council is requesting a total of CHF 29.2 billion. The preliminary committee of the Council of States agrees with the Federal Council's cutbacks in education and research and advocates reversing several of the National Council's increases, including those for vocational education and training. Another topic will be higher fees for students with a foreign Matura at the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne. The National Council decided on at least a threefold increase compared to domestic students. The Council of States committee, on the other hand, wants "at least a doubling". In total, the Federal Council is requesting CHF 29.2 billion in the ERI Dispatch. (24.031, on the agenda of the Council of States on September 12)
TAXATION: In the second week of the session, the National Council will focus on individual taxation. On the agenda is the tax justice initiative submitted by the FDP women, which calls for taxation regardless of marital status, and a legislative project by the Federal Council. The responsible committee supports the initiative and the direct counter-proposal with a narrow majority in each case. The Federal Council would like to introduce taxation irrespective of marital status at all levels of government. With regard to direct federal tax, the Federal Council is assuming - based on the 2024 tax year - an estimated shortfall in revenue of around CHF 1 billion per year. The strong minority in the National Council wants to maintain the understanding of marriage as an economic community and argues that the implementation of the bill would be very costly. (24.026, on the agenda of the National Council on September 16)
INVESTMENT CONTROLS: The National Council is debating the Investment Control Act. These provisions are intended to prevent Swiss companies from being taken over by foreign investors if this could endanger or threaten public order or public safety. Takeovers should have to be approved if the companies concerned operate in a particularly critical area and state-controlled foreign investors want to take them over. However, the Federal Council does not consider the investment review to be necessary; Parliament has initiated the bill. The responsible National Council committee also wants to go further than the Federal Council. Among other things, it also wants to apply the investment review to non-state investors. (23.086, on the agenda of the National Council on September 17)
CIVIL PROTECTION: The Federal Council wants to be able to oblige those liable for civilian service to perform part of their service in civil defense. The aim is to increase the number of civil defense personnel. The Federal Council therefore wants to amend the Civil Protection and Civil Defense Act. In the Council of States, the preliminary consultation committee agrees with the proposals. The majority believes that civil defence organizations will no longer be able to provide their services if the problem of understaffing is not addressed. The minority, on the other hand, believes that civil defense assignments should remain voluntary. The civilian service association Civiva rejects the amendment. (24.043, on the agenda of the Council of States on September 18)
ASYL: The Federal Council wants to regulate more clearly who may apply disciplinary measures in federal asylum centers and on what basis in order to improve the safety of residents and staff. A lively debate on the proposed amendments to the Asylum Act is expected in the National Council. Although the responsible committee approved the draft, there are a number of minority motions. An extremely narrow majority in the committee voted in favour of the proposal to extend the area around the federal asylum centers in which disciplinary measures can be taken against asylum seekers if their behaviour endangers public safety and order. (24.038, on the agenda of the National Council on September 18)
ARMY: The army dispatch is unusually controversial. Because the responsible National Council committee has not yet been able to agree on how the requested additional expenditure for the army should be financed, it has rejected the federal decree on the army's payment framework for 2025 to 2028, which is part of the dispatch. The committee had previously decided in principle to increase the budget for the armed forces from CHF 25.8 billion to CHF 29.8 billion. In doing so, it wants to ensure that the army budget reaches the target value of one percent of gross domestic product by 2030 - and not 2035 as previously decided. The Council of States has already approved the increase. The other parts of the 2024 Armed Forces Dispatch are largely or completely undisputed, i.e. the procurement of new army equipment, the increase in the armaments credit by CHF 660 million for ground-based air defence and the DDPS real estate programme. (24.025, on the agenda of the National Council on September 18 and 19)
DEFENSE: The National Council is debating whether Parliament should have a say in Switzerland's accession to the European Sky Shield Initiative. The majority of the Security Policy Committee is calling for a say with a motion. The Sky Shield Initiative focuses on better coordination of procurement projects, training and logistical aspects in the area of ground-based air defense. The Federal Council approved the declaration of accession in April; Chief of Armaments Urs Loher signed the application for membership in July. The Federal Council is of the opinion that, based on the constitution, the Federal Council has the authority to sign the declaration of accession. The parliamentary committees had been consulted and had given their approval. (24.3474, on the agenda of the National Council on September 19)
MIGRATION: The Council of States has put accession to the UN migration pact, which was suspended by Parliament in 2021, back on the agenda. However, the majority of its responsible committee is proposing not to join the pact because it does not see any concrete benefits from ratification. On the contrary, it believes that the risks of legal repercussions would outweigh any benefits. The UN migration pact was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2018. It sets out measures to regulate migration across borders for the first time. The Federal Council actually wanted to sign the pact back in 2018, but decided against it after criticism that the Federal Council could not adopt the pact without parliamentary approval. (21.018, on the agenda of the Council of States on September 19)
UKRAINE: The National Council is discussing a declaration that the millions of deaths by starvation in Ukraine in the 1930s for which Stalin was responsible should be recognized as an act of genocide. The majority of the Foreign Affairs Committee proposes the declaration to the Council. The Holodomor cost the lives of at least three million people in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933. To date, parliaments in several countries have recognized the Holodomor as genocide, including Germany, France, Poland, the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as the EU Parliament. (24.064, on the agenda of the National Council on September 24)
CLIMATE: Switzerland's future relationship with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is up for debate in both Councils in extraordinary sessions. The background to this is the Strasbourg ruling in the case of the climate seniors last spring. The Court ruled that Switzerland had not fulfilled its duties in terms of climate protection. In the National Council, an SVP motion is the only issue under discussion, namely the denunciation of the ECHR. Several motions have been tabled in the Council of States. While the motion from the SVP also calls for the ECHR to be revoked, a motion from the FDP wants the Court to focus on its core task. The SP, on the other hand, wants a postulate to clarify the consequences of the climate ruling for Switzerland. The Federal Council proposes that the FDP motion be accepted, but rejects the other motions. (24.3503 on the agenda of the National Council on September 24 and 24.3513, 24.3485 and 24.3508 in the Council of States on September 25)
ASYLUM: The SVP has also called for an extraordinary session on asylum in the fall session. Both Councils have several motions from the largest parliamentary group. One demands that asylum seekers who have crossed a safe country should no longer be considered refugees. A second wants to abolish family reunification for temporarily admitted persons. Another motion calls for transit zones to be established in border areas where all asylum applications should be made and processed. Only people with a positive asylum decision would be allowed to enter. And yet another calls for a systematic exchange of data on persons without a regular residence permit in Switzerland. The Federal Council is proposing a "no" to all motions (24.3056, 24.3057, 24.3058 and 24.3059, on the agenda of the National Council on September 24 and 24.3515, 24.3511 and 24.3516 in the Council of States on September 25).
