This could be called the President's New Year's gift, in this case the President's, and in principle it doesn't make much noise. At the end of each year, the “primus inter pares” of the Federal Council can distribute the sum of 5,000 francs to one or more entities of its choice. The only directive is that the money goes to “people in need or to charitable organizations.”
Without much surprise, part of the presidential envelope is leaving this end of 2024 in Haut-Valais, as we learn from Blick. Very attached to her region, the centrist Viola Amherd decided to pay 2,500 francs to the “Sun for disabled children” foundation, based in Törbel (VS). An entity that allows affected families to organize leisure activities or take vacations. The rest of the money goes to the now famous Theodora Foundation, whose clowns visit hospitalized children.
Cantons of privileged presidents
Viola Amherd is not the first to opt for a regional choice. Often, the presidents of the Confederation decide to share their donations with institutions working in their canton of origin.
This was already the case last year, when the socialist Alain Berset chose Banc public, a Friborg day center for people in financial or social difficulty, as well as the Lire et Ecrire Association of his canton, which aims to facilitate access to written language for adults. Also during his first year as president, in 2018, three Friborg charitable organizations received envelopes from Bern.
In 2023, Ticino resident Ignazio Cassis, although very active in his canton, made a different choice. Marked by international news, the PLR at the head of the foreign affairs department had decided to pay the entire sum to the Ukrainian population, attacked by Russia, via the Swiss Solidarity. And in 2022, Vaudois Guy Parmelin divided the sum to benefit six mutual aid organizations in all the linguistic regions of Switzerland. Their action mainly targeted young people in difficulty.
Freedom of choice
These “gifts from the president” have a long history, and they have the particularity that the minister concerned freely chooses the beneficiaries. The sum of 5,000 francs comes from the additional envelope that each federal councilor receives when he assumes the rotating presidency of the Confederation. In 2025, it will be the turn of Saint-Welsh Karin Keller-Sutter (PLR).
