2024-01-18 05:30:38
Published18. January 2024, 06:30
Bernese Council of State: The minister is reimbursed… a banana for 20 cents!
Bernese State Councilor Philippe Müller (PLR) really doesn’t let anything slip through his expense accounts.
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Eric Felley
Philippe Müller, Bernese State Councilor since 2018.
Canton de Berne/Ruben Ung
As there are no small profits, there are no small costs. The current president of the Berne Council of State, Philippe Müller (PLR), was singled out by the German-speaking television program “Kassensturz”. Its journalists had asked to be able to consult the expense reports of Bernese magistrates since 2018 under the cantonal law on transparency.
What was their surprise when they discovered that the PLR State Councilor, in charge of security since 2018, had been reimbursed for the purchase of a banana, which had cost him 20 cents with a bun with seeds of 95 cents. Total ticket: 1.15 francs. The program noted that he was accustomed to requests for reimbursements for small amounts, for example a pretzel for 3.20 francs.
DR/SRF
A package of 8000 francs
The program recalls that a state councilor from the canton of Berne is paid 278,422 francs per year. In addition, he receives a fixed fee of 8,000 francs which he can use as he wishes. But this does not deprive him of the possibility of claiming reimbursement of specific costs, as he did. Contacted, the minister did not want to explain his somewhat stingy behavior with the State. A spokesperson for the canton of Bern, however, explained that in a general context, these were “usual and justified expenses in an executive office at cantonal level”.
Simplify things…
The SRF interviewed Kuno Schedler, professor of public management at the University of St. Gallen, who considers the reimbursement of these micro-expenses questionable: “Their processing alone costs between 25 and 30 francs.” Thus, the general director of the Berne State Staff Association, Daniel Wyrsch, believes that members of the Government should review their functioning: “In order to simplify the accounting of expenses and representation costs, it would be logical that small amounts of less than 30 francs can no longer be invoiced individually.
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