After Banana Gate: Bern’s government council wants to revise its expense regulations

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So now: Bern’s government council has decided to revise its expenses scheme. He wants to limit individual compensation by introducing a financial minimum limit.

The State Chancellery was tasked with drawing up the arrangement for reimbursement of expenses for the members of the Government Council, as the Bern administration announced on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the canton of Bern told Blick that the issue of expenditure was not on the agenda.

Bernese GLP councilor Tobias Vogeli (28) wanted to write a political proposal about this, he told Radio SRF last week. The government is now moving in the same direction.

Last week it was revealed that individual members of the government were taking even small amounts of money, despite having a more than decent salary. For example, Philippe Müller (60, FDP). Despite a generous salary, he also charged an organic multi-grain sandwich for 95 cents and a banana for 20 cents. A pretzel with butter for 3.20 francs can also be found in the expense reports.

Never been charged such small costs before

This was discovered by the SRF program “Kassenrutsch”. Through the publicity principle, the editors gained insight into the expense claims of the Bernese government council – and were amazed. Other Berne government councils also benefit from the expense scheme.

For example for aperitif wine reserves and gifts. Or borrow, as the example of SP economic director Christoph Ammann (54) shows: his own wardrobe was not enough for the Federal President’s New Year’s reception in 2019. He borrowed an Eden hat and a ‘Crème Silk’ scarf from the costume collection from the city theater for an amount of 30 francs each.

At the beginning of this week, Müller counterattacked. “It is not true that I go around collecting pieces of paper and handing them out in large numbers,” he said. The relevant expense reports for meals were from 2018 and 2019, Müller said. This involved catering “for others and for me”, for example if a lunch meeting was arranged at short notice. (oko)

Source:Blick