The International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva is threatened with closure as early as 2027, the Tribune de Genève revealed on Wednesday. The federal subsidy granted to the institution was reduced as part of the Confederation’s economic measures.
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) today grants more than one million francs per year to the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, or almost a quarter of the operating costs of the institution.
Last September, the Confederation re-examined, in a report, the subsidies granted. She proposed moving support for the museum from the FDFA to the Federal Office of Culture from 2027, which would reduce the size of the envelope.
“We are sawing off a leg of the table,” laments Pascal Hufschmid, director of the establishment. At the Federal Office of Culture, federal grants are put into competition. “If we obtain it, it will necessarily be lower than what we currently have. This will expose us to a structural deficit,” he said on Friday in La Matinale.
Transfer to Defense?
For the Genevan national socialist councilor Estelle Revaz, it is necessary to show creativity. The member of the Federal Culture Commission is ironic and proposes a transfer to the Department of Defense, “which will have a very flourishing budget” rather than to an office “which has already seen its budget reduced to a trickle” .
The canton of Geneva, for its part, is asking the Confederation to reverse its decision, because it considers that a weakening of international Geneva would undermine Swiss diplomacy. For the Geneva UDC national councilor Thomas Bläsi, the subsidy could instead be reallocated to the canton, in order to increase its financial participation.
Inès Moubachir/mera
Swiss
