Berset sees the BVG overhaul in jeopardy

In the general vote, the small chamber accepted the BVG revision by 25 votes to 10 with four abstentions. The bill goes back to the National Council.

The model favored by the Council of States on Monday provides that approximately every second insured person in the transitional generation should benefit from supplements. It is based on the model of the National Council, which is estimated to benefit 35 to 40 percent of the transitional generation, but expands the circle of recipients and aims to make the situation better with low pension assets. This should primarily benefit women who often work part-time.

Lifelong pension supplement for the first years

In order to improve the situation for part-time and multiple employees, the municipality also stuck to its original resolutions to noticeably lower the entry threshold and the coordination deduction. In total, some 200,000 additional people are expected to benefit from the lowering of the entry barrier. In the model of the National Council, it would be about 460,000 people.

The core of the Council of States’ concept is a lifelong pension supplement for the first 15 cohorts to retire after the reform. Anyone with a pension capital of CHF 215,100 or less at the time of retirement should be entitled to the full supplement. There should be a degressive surcharge for pension savings between CHF 215,100 and CHF 430,200. If you have more credit, you will not be reimbursed.

More generous table submission

The small chamber rejected motions by minorities seeking to raise this threshold. All other minorities who spoke out in favor of the Bundesrat variant, ie the compromise between the social partners, and the National Council variant also failed.

In the summer session, the Council of States had a generous proposal on the table at the request of its preliminary advisory committee. About 70 percent of the insured in the transitional generation would have received the full supplement and 18 percent a reduced supplement. At the request of Josef Dittli (65, FDP), the council then decided on an extra loop because the group of receivers was too large and the reform would otherwise be too expensive.

Minister of Health Alain Berset (50) tried in vain in a fervent plea to persuade the Council to adopt more generous models that would stand a chance in a referendum. Not even half of the transitional generation benefited from a compensation allowance in the version that has now been determined by the Council of States. “A good half has none of it. How do you want to bring the reform to a successful conclusion?” (SDA)