Can Parliament refuse the billions at all?

class=”sc-3778e872-0 cKDKQr”>

Credit Suisse will soon be a thing of the past. Your redemption reverberates. On March 19, 2023, the Federal Council, Finma and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) urged UBS to take over arch-rival Credit Suisse.

Parliament stood by and had to watch. Only the financial delegation led by President Ursula Schneider Schüttel (61) was allowed to approve the billion-dollar loans. An extraordinary session on Credit Suisse begins on Tuesday. Peak activity for national and state councils, who have to run an extra shift in Bern instead of the Easter holidays in Ticino.

Compared to a normal session, the program is clear. Following a statement from the Bundesrat – in which it will defend its decisions during the CS crisis – the focus of the session will be on the vote on the billion-dollar loans that the Bundesrat had decided to bail out CS through an emergency law. On the one hand, there is a default guarantee of CHF 100 billion for liquidity support loans to CS. On the other hand, 9 billion francs to hedge against UBS losses. It will be discussed whether the billions in loans should be subject to certain conditions. In addition, parliament is debating a number of proposals submitted by the committees after the rescue operation CS.

Unlike usual, the National Council and the Council of States do not meet simultaneously, but alternately. Wednesday and Thursday will be about clearing up differences of opinion between the two councils about the approval of the billion-dollar loans.

No Of course the parliamentarians can press the red button and reject the loans. The SP has already announced that it will vote no if its conditions are not met. But legally nothing changes. The decision of the Bundesrat cannot be reversed.

Shortly after the CS rescue, the parties went overboard with demands for political consequences. However, they will not be dealt with at the extraordinary session. Because the law stipulates that parliamentarians and political groups can only submit new proposals during a session. Commissions, on the other hand, have already adopted proposals – although concrete requirements have not yet been agreed.

Instead, the ten proposals submitted only require reports from the Bundesrat. For example, the Economic Commission of the National Council wants an analysis of the failure. There should also be posts about the new Monster UBS, or why the “too big to fail” rules don’t apply. The Bundesrat agrees to look into all this.

Not much more needs to be decided this week. Because any amendment jeopardizes the bailout deal – and could shake the financial center.

Evil tongues would say: Because elections are coming. But the parliamentarians are also hateful. This week, they get the stage to voice their thoughts on the CS rescue – and present themselves to voters. More than a quarter of the national councilors had voted in favor of an extraordinary session, including those of the SP, FDP, Mitte and Grüne.

In principle, the parliament still has to approve the commitment appropriations afterwards, even if the Bundesrat has already taken a final decision.

To deal with the CS crisis and the state-orchestrated bailout, a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (PUK) – Parliament’s most powerful tool for dealing with crises and controversies – was repeatedly called for. The bureau of the National Council, among others, has argued for it, now the ball is in the court of the Council of States. However, the Council of States first wants to hear the business review committees before they make a decision. Whether there will be a PUK or not will be decided in the summer session at the earliest.

That there is an extraordinary session is not particularly remarkable. Normally, however, such extra shifts are added to an existing session if everyone is already in Bern anyway. The upcoming session will be only the third to be held separately. (brother)

Source:Blick