The five most important issues of the parliament’s summer session

© Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Arms exports, Credit Suisse and motorway expansions: the House of Representatives and the Senate will debate numerous topics in the summer session before the elections.

Parliament will meet in Bern from May 30 to June 16 for the summer session. This overview explores five of the important upcoming issues.

Debates on war material

The House of Representative’s Security Policy Committee wants to sell 25 decommissioned Leopard tanks of the Swiss Armed Forces back to Germany. The House of Representatives will decide within the framework of the “Armed Forces Dispatch 2023” whether the tanks will be “decommissioned”, which is a prerequisite for the resale. Both will also debate proposals to allow other countries to export war material that they have purchased from Switzerland.

Credit Suisse enquiry

The House of Representatives and the Senate agree that a parliamentary enquiry committee should be set up on the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS to clarify responsibilities. But before the enquiry committee can begin its work, both houses of parliament must define the precise mandate and personnel resources in a federal decree. The office of the House of Representatives is submitting a bill to this effect.

Green light for motorways?

The Federal Council is proposing almost CHF12 billion ($13 billion) to parliament for five projects to expand the national road network, which are to be realised by 2030. In addition, a further CHF9 billion will be spent on the maintenance and operation of existing motorways between 2024 and 2027. The House of Representatives transport committee is proposing that an additional CHF911 million be spent on upgrading the Le Vengeron-Coppet-Nyon section of the motorway. The left-wing party members oppose all expansion projects.

Wind-power projects

During this session, parliament wants to pass a law to push advanced wind farm projects. It would give the cantons the authority to give final approval for these projects. In contrast to the House of Representatives, however, the environment committee of the Senate only wants to promote projects that have already been approved by the current siting municipalities.

Voting age: the youth to wait their turn

The minimum age for voting in federal elections should remain at 18 years. The national policy commission is proposing to burry a bill that would lower the age to 16. Cantonal referenda have shown that lowering the voting age is neither supported by cantonal majority nor by a majority of the population. A minority fights for the voting age of 16 because the youth are strongly affected by political decisions in the long term.