Waiving contributions to childcare How the Federal Council wants to save billions

The Federal Council wants to balance the federal finances with an austerity program. The army does not have to make savings. The media conference of Karin Keller-Sutter, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Albert Rösti in the livestream.

The federal government is planning a comprehensive package of measures to get the federal budget back on track. From 2027, it wants to reduce the budget by CHF 3.6 billion. From 2030, this figure is to rise to CHF 4.6 billion. The army is not to be affected.

The Federal Council includes a total of sixty measures on the list published on Friday entitled "Measures to review tasks and subsidies". The proposals were based on the report presented by a group of experts at the beginning of September.

In the longer term, the planned waiver of federal contributions for supplementary childcare will have the greatest impact. This should reduce the federal budget by almost CHF 900 million per year from 2030. The Federal Council wants to save half a billion francs per year by reducing the integration lump sum for refugees to four years.

Other major potential savings items include waiving climate protection subsidies, for example for the building program (CHF 400 million), freezing development aid expenditure (CHF 313 million), measures within the Federal Administration (CHF 305 million), reducing contributions to the railroad infrastructure fund (CHF 200 million) and contributions to the National Fund (CHF 145 million).

Army excluded

The army is not on the list of savings proposals. If army spending were increased less rapidly and the rebuilding of defense capabilities slowed down, fewer savings would have to be made in other policy areas, the group of experts announced at the beginning of September. The Federal Council clearly does not want to know anything about this.

It also wants to forego the abolition of the subsidy for freight transport or housing subsidies as well as the bridging benefits for older unemployed people. The Federal Council refers in part to pending proposals in parliament and in part to referendums that must be accepted.

The Federal Council writes of "key values of the relief package for the federal budget". The details are expected to be presented with the consultation draft by the end of January 2025. The Federal Council plans to present a framework decree that includes amendments to numerous laws.

SDA