The federal government has paid over 20 million francs to agencies this year
A new list shows that the federal government spends a lot of money getting its messages across to the public.
As the Aargauer Zeitung reportsIn 2018, around CHF 20 million is said to have flowed into the coffers of external agencies for the 25 most expensive mandates alone. The Federal Council published the overview following a proposal by SVP National Councillor Hansjörg Knecht. However, the total costs for externally commissioned campaigns are not shown, nor are the internal costs listed.
In 2017, the federal government spent a total of 78.6 million francs on public relations work. Three thirds of the costs are incurred by staff, with 307 full-time positions entrusted with this task. They launch campaigns, write media releases, answer inquiries and manage the federal government's websites.
The Department of Home Affairs spent the most money in 2017 (CHF 15.3 million), ahead of the Departments of Defense, Finance and DETEC. The Department of Home Affairs is responsible for the FOPH campaigns, for example - it was responsible for five of the 25 most expensive communication contracts totaling CHF 6.5 million.
The List shows: In the current year, around CHF 2 million will go to Rod Kommunikation for the Love Life campaign and CHF 1.4 million to Yjoo for the organ donation campaign. Havas will also receive the same amount for the recently launched antibiotics campaign.
The Swiss Federal Office of Energy is transferring almost CHF 7 million to private agencies this year. Aroma will receive CHF 4.2 million for the Energy Challenge, Quade & Zurfluh around CHF 926,000 for "CO2-Tieferlegen", Burson-Marsteller CHF 600,000 for the "Energie Schweiz" community campaign, Wirz Brand Relations CHF 550,000 to promote the 2018 building program and Franz & René CHF 400,000 to reduce the heating of vacant vacation homes.
The Confederation's communication expenditure is polarizing. Opinions range from superfluous state propaganda to indispensable necessity. The main critic is the SVP - it regularly calls for a reduction in this expenditure. An investigation commissioned by the National Council's Control Committee is now to examine whether federal communication is "appropriately and economically organized". (hae)
