These decisions are pending in the Federal Palace

Important decisions are pending in the Federal Palace. The three-week spring session of parliament begins on Monday – and the National Council and the Council of States are discussing dozens of new laws, advances and initiatives.

An overview of the most exciting deals:

Parliamentarians have been arguing for years about how occupational pensions can also be reformed after the AHV. One thing is certain: the conversion rate drops from 6.8 to 6 percent. For every 100,000 pension fund capital saved, you should only receive an annual pension of 6,000 instead of 6,800 francs. But what compensation measures are there for the pension reduction? And who benefits from it? There is still disagreement. It is uncertain whether the National Council and the Council of States will be able to reach a compromise in the spring session. The unions have already announced the referendum against the reform.

In an international comparison, Switzerland performs poorly when it comes to childcare, according to a 2021 UNICEF survey. That is why politicians want to act. Current financial support from the federal government for childcare that supplements the family is limited. Now a permanent solution is needed. The responsible National Council Committee proposes that parents and cantons receive more money for childcare in the future than originally planned. Cost point: about 710 million Swiss francs per year. This should increase the development opportunities of the children and improve the compatibility of family and work. However, the proposal is highly controversial. It is quite possible that the 710 million will ultimately be considerably less.

The National Council and the Council of States disagree about whether the population should benefit from higher premium discounts on health insurance in the future. On the one hand, the National Council is again debating the SP’s initiative to reduce premiums – and an indirect counter-proposal to that. On the other hand, the Council of States also has an indirect counter-proposal to the center’s cost control initiative.

“Only yes means yes” or “no means no”? The councils are debating this starting point in the new criminal law for sexual offenses. The focus is on a new definition of rape. In December, the National Council voted in favor of the so-called consent solution, which defines non-consensual sexual acts as rape. For the Council of States, on the other hand, that goes too far. Its provisional advisory committee still favors the adversarial solution. Will it stay that way?

Two years after the yes to the initiative to ban face coverings, the small chamber is the first council to implement the new constitution. The Bundesrat had amended its draft after criticism in the consultations on essential points. However, the responsible committee of the Council of States does not want to introduce the new constitutional article at the national, but at the cantonal level. The decision was extremely close – by a 5 to 5 vote with 3 abstentions and the casting vote of President Mathias Zopfi (39, Greens). The question now is whether the board will follow the committee’s recommendation and return the deal to sender.

After the federal government rejected all previous requests from abroad for the transfer of Swiss weapons to Ukraine with reference to the applicable War Material Act, parliament is discussing a change of course. If it is up to the Security Policy Committee of the National Council, weapons manufactured in Switzerland could in future be transferred from other countries to warring states under certain conditions. The National Council is now discussing a corresponding motion. The competent committee of the Council of States advocates a different approach. She wants to limit the validity of non-re-export declarations for certain countries purchasing Swiss war material to five years.

Security of supply is also an important topic in Parliament in this session. After the States Council, the National Council discusses the so-called Energy Mantle Decree. This should ensure that Switzerland has sufficient electricity in the medium and long term. There is agreement that progress should be made in expanding renewable energy sources. Because new EU rules could further limit Switzerland’s ability to import electricity. With the expansion of domestic energy resources, the question of how to guarantee constitutional principles such as environmental protection is particularly controversial. (SDA/lha)

Source:Blick