EN: Could Switzerland See a U.S. Style Government Shutdown?

Bern, Switzerland

The newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) writes about how surprised the Swiss are by the Government Shutdown now affecting the U.S. administration and asks whether something similar could happen here.

The answer is, not surprisingly, no. Swiss do not like the unpredictable. The federal parliament in Bern, Bundesversammlung, does indeed have two chambers - Nationalrat and Ständerat, - which theoretically can have different views on the federal budget. But in such cases, the Swiss Constitution rewards thriftiness and stipulates that the lower cost alternative take effect.

On the regional and municipal levels (Canton and Gemeinde ) the approach is less straightforward and it has happened that politicians have not been able to agree. However, for such cases there are emergency solutions - such as to continue working with last year's budget - whereby most people do not notice any difference.

But no rule without exceptions: in 2012, the schoolchildren of Zollikon (Canton Zurich), were deprived of their ski day, since the politicians in this municipality of 12.000 immigrants were stuck in a disagreement.

Some say that Switzerland is boring, but I believe that I like this country just as it is.

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Deutsche Version
Svensk version