SDA: Confederation does not want to pay more than three million for reports
The current service agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss News Agency (SDA) expires at the end of the year. A new agreement is currently being negotiated. An increase in the annual contribution of three million Swiss francs is out of the question for the Federal Council. Federal Chancellor Corina Casanova made this clear on Monday during question time in the National Council.
National Councillor Daniel Vischer (Greens/ZH) wanted to know what the Federal Council had to say "about a monopoly in such a sensitive area". Since the Swiss office of the Deutscher Depeschendienst (ddp) was closed, only the SDA still offers a domestic service. Vischer asked why the SDA was "spending money on creating a monopoly" and at the same time asking the federal government for higher subsidies. Casanova said that SDA was a company under private law and that the federal government had no insight into its business. The Federal Chancellery is not aware of any request for higher subsidies. The federal government has no influence on the prices that SDA negotiates with its other customers. It also remains to be seen how much the Confederation will pay SDA under the Language Act. The Federal Council is not indifferent to the fact that SDA is the only agency in Switzerland to offer a domestic service. However, it does not wish to comment on this at the moment.
