The proponents of the halving initiative have never been seen as concerned about the purchasing power of the working population as in the current voting campaign. A strategy that is both transparent and hypocritical. What this dangerous initiative is really about is all the less allowed to fade into the background: the destruction of the SRG‘s public media service without replacement. The result: market power = opinion power and fake news = standard.
The initiators of the SRG halving initiative are promoting their cause across the country with the slogan “More money for our Büezers”. It couldn’t be more clumsy or shameless. Because with the money or In terms of purchasing power, it’s actually a simple matter: it’s about good wages and pensions and it’s about affordable rents and bonuses. If there are noticeable improvements in these four areas, then “the mess is over,” to a very large extent. But it doesn’t take much research to determine that the people behind the halving initiative are literally the “crème de la crème” of those who prevent purchasing power:
- With a widespread attack on statutory minimum wages and an extension of working hours on weekends and at night, they want to directly ensure that Büezers end up with less in their accounts at the end of the month.
- It’s the same with pensions: they pursue AHV obstructionism wherever possible. With only one goal: to exert pressure to increase the retirement age and thus reduce pensions.
- And what about the bonuses? All attempts to significantly increase premium reductions, let alone the completely self-evident introduction of income-dependent health insurance premiums, are rejected.
- Finally, there are the rents: Here, Ober-SRG-Halber Gregor Rutz, as the highest house owner in Switzerland, ensures that the working and renting population is guaranteed no relief.
Interim conclusion: If you follow the supporters of the halving initiative, there is definitely not “more money for our Büezer” – quite the opposite. Now one might object that small livestock also make a mess, because the initiative would initially reduce annual expenditure per household by 100 francs. However, this is more of a mosquito than a small animal: 100 francs per year equals 27 centimes per day, or a café crème every two weeks (shared with the whole family). The purchasing power effect of the initiative is ridiculously small for households. Not so for large companies, because the initiative aims to completely exempt legal entities from the RTV fee. Of course, the initiators are less happy to talk about this gift, which is ultimately financed by the general public, especially to large corporations: the fact that the Büezers are being ripped off is less of a good part of the campaign.
So if it’s proven that it can’t be about purchasing power, then what are the initiators interested in? They say that by halving the fees, the SRG should be forced to concentrate on its core mission. Without questioning what sense such a core mission would actually make, it can be stated, firstly, that the initiators have (unfortunately) already achieved this goal. Because under the pressure of the initiative, the Federal Council has already massively reduced the RTV fee, which means that the SRG is currently being forced to save money at every turn (the SRG Büzers are suffering the most from this, by the way).
Secondly, it is clear that if the initiative were accepted, no meaningfully defined core mission would no longer be able to be financed (SRG concession today: information, culture, education, entertainment and sport for all parts of the country and language regions). The initiators are particularly aware of this. Because they are not interested in restricting the SRG to a core mission, but rather in destroying the SRG. In the words of SVP National Councilor Hess: “This initiative doesn’t go far enough. Actually, this compulsory fee should be completely abolished. But it’s a shot in the right direction.”
The fact that the initiators of the halving initiative are neither concerned with the purchasing power of employees nor with a more narrowly defined public media service, but simply with the dismantling of the SRG: this is not a new finding. However, you should still keep this fact in mind when you open the voting envelope for March 8th. Because no matter what the outcome of the upcoming referendum is: Politically, the fight for the SRG will continue straight away – just from a hopeful or a hopeless starting point.