"Too much paid for too few services" SP Co-President attacks the Federal Council's austerity policy

The Co-President of the Social Democratic Party, Cédric Wermuth, criticizes the austerity proposals of the group of experts appointed by the Federal Council in an interview.

According to the analysis of SP Co-President Cédric Wermuth, the federal government does not have a spending problem, but has foregone too much revenue in the past. "We don't have a spending problem; here too, the working group has worked unprofessionally. The problem is that tax privileges worth billions have been introduced for corporations and the rich in recent decades. This money is now to be recouped at the expense of the general public. This is the opposite of social Switzerland," said Wermuth in an interview published in the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" on Thursday.

The expert commission's report is reminiscent of the old, neoliberal program of state cutbacks, Wermuth continued. This had fallen out of time. "The whole exercise amounts to reversing a series of social, equality and climate policy successes - under the guise of a financial policy that is presented as having no alternative."

When asked whether there was any savings proposal that he thought was right, Wermuth replied, according to the NZZ, that there were of course subsidies that could be discussed in terms of savings. For example, whether a federal office or the cantonal police should ensure controls at the airport. It would also be right to correct tax concessions.

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Federal cuts "not necessary"

However, cuts by the federal government are not necessary, said the SP Co-President. "Switzerland as a whole is richer than ever before. The money is simply distributed extremely unequally, and international corporations benefit from a five-star hotel for the price of a sandwich, which keeps the population in good shape. Financial policy is above all a question of distribution: who pays for what? By focusing on the expenditure side, the majority in parliament and the Federal Council are trying to keep their clientele in the black."

In the interview, Wermuth also criticizes the debt brake. "The debt brake was always primarily a political construct: it is there to restrain the state and hinder socio-political progress."

Today, Switzerland has one of the lowest debt ratios in the world, Wermuth told the NZZ. Switzerland is not a developing country with extreme debt to international donors. It had reduced its debt in real terms. No other country in the world does this voluntarily. "Switzerland would certainly be able to carry twice as much debt without any problems. The crucial question is always whether it is better for people to make the investments today or not."

The Swiss state has recorded a surplus almost every year since 2006. The federal government, cantons and municipalities have accumulated enormous savings. "The claim that we are living beyond our means is not true. If so, then we have lived below our means and paid too much for too few services," Wermuth told the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" newspaper.

SDA