What Lies Ahead: The Swiss Political Landscape For 2024
Date
12/22/2023 2:13:33 PM
(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The year 2024 is shaping up to be a gruelling one for the new Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. The Social Democrat will have to face at least six popular votes in a year, which will often put her at odds with her party.
This is a rare Political challenge that the federal Councillor has decided to take on herself. After a year at the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, criticised by the right for her asylum policy, she wanted to hand over her department to her party comrade Beat Jans.
Just two months after taking over a new cabinet portfolio, Baume-Schneider will have to tackle the thorny issue of pensions on the voting Sunday of March 3. She will have to fight two popular initiatives on the future of Old Age and Survivors' Insurance, the first pillar of the Swiss pension system.
The old age pension initiative, that came from the ranks of the political left, proposes the payment of a 13th old-age pension. The unions, women's organisations and pensioners' organisations behind the initiative believe that the amounts currently paid out are not enough to live on.
However, the government is opposed to this proposal, which would worsen the financial situation of the pension pot, leading to additional expenditure of around CHF5 billion by 2032. The Social Democrat will therefore have to fight her first battle against her own political camp.
The other proposal comes from the right. This is an initiative launched by the Young Radicals, which envisages raising the retirement age to 66 for everyone initially, and then linking it to life expectancy. If the idea does not appeal to the government, it is also unlikely to convince the electorate, which has just agreed to raise the retirement age for women from 64 to 65.
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