Demands of the National Council: Financial control must oversee SRH

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Every household must pay 335 francs to media companies. More than 1.2 billion francs are raised annually for Swiss radio and television (SRG). How the media group handles the money will in future be audited by the Federal Audit Office (SFAO) – and no longer just by the Federal Council. This is what the National Council wants, which on Tuesday followed a parliamentary initiative by Marco Romano, former national councilor of the Ticino Center.

De Romano and party leader Gerhard Pfister, who took over the initiative after Romano’s resignation, argue that the SRG must fulfill a performance mandate and is largely financed by the radio and television tax of over a billion francs per year. Given this amount and the great public interest in the SRG, it should be supervised by the SFAO.

The Federal Council wanted nothing to do with it

Neither the Federal Council nor the National Council’s Provisional Advisory Committee on Transport and Telecommunications wanted to know anything about it. Current facilities were sufficient and SFAO’s oversight activities could jeopardize the SRG’s program autonomy.

What the SFAO itself denied: for example, it also looks over the shoulders of courts – without violating their independence. “The same would be possible at SRG,” Brigitte Christ (57), deputy director of financial control, told Blick last year.

But the council decided otherwise with 111 votes in favor, 77 votes in favor and 5 abstentions. This is probably also against the background of the halving initiative, which aims to reduce radio and TV rates to 200 francs. (SDA/sf)

Source:Blick