Expats slam budget cuts but push e-voting
The Council of the Swiss Abroad has called for increased efforts to introduce e-voting but rejected planned budget cuts for the Swiss Review magazine.
The assembly, which represents the Swiss expatriate community around the world, also came out in favour of continuing and extending a key labour accord with the European Union, – a parliamentary decision which might come to come to nationwide vote next year.
The meeting on Friday appealed to the cantonal authorities –which are in charge of organising ballots – to launch trials in a bid to speed up the introduction of electronic voting across the country.
Until now only three out of the country’s 26 cantons have carried out such tests.
The delegates also approved a resolution rejecting plans by the foreign ministry to reduce the SFr1.8 million ($1.7 million) annual budget of the Swiss Review by more than a quarter.
The council meeting in Fribourg took place ahead of the annual Congress of the Swiss Abroad underway until Sunday.
There are about 670,000 Swiss living abroad, mostly in European Union member countries. Nearly 120,000 have the registered to vote.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.