The Red Cross Museum is on borrowed time: Bern is considering withdrawing the annual subsidy paid to the institution by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. This would mark the end of the museum according to its director.
The news had the effect of a cold shower. The DFA could eliminate the million annual subsidy paid to the Red Cross Museum in Geneva, as the Tribune de Genève revealed: “Currently the very real scenario is a closure from 2027 because we are a legal foundation “a quarter of the budget disappears in this transfer to another office” laments Pascal Hufschmid, director of the International Museum of the Red Cross.
A package of federal savings measures
This measure comes from the Gaillard report: a catalog of proposals to reduce federal finances by 4 to 5 billion francs. For the Red Cross Museum, this would involve replacing the current FDFA subsidy of 1.1 million francs with funding from the Federal Office of Culture. The director estimates that it would amount to around 300,000 francs: “We will not be able to absorb this loss by doing less: we are already fundraising, and here we are talking about operating expenses: salaries, electricity… Everything you need to run the business. We find ourselves facing a dead end.”
Measures soon to be put out for consultation
The DFA reminds that for the moment these are only proposals, and that nothing has been implemented: “The measures decided by the Federal Council must still be clarified and their effects analyzed in more detail. They will be put out for consultation in January 2025. All interested parties will then be able to take a position,” the spokesperson replied by return email.
Federal elected officials take up the matter
That’s good, some Geneva parliamentarians are already hard at work to ensure funding for the museum. First step: a Culture Committee meeting next week in Bern: “We will see if we can make a proposal to freeze the decision. We need to make concrete proposals because we can’t just say that we just have to maintain the subsidy: we won’t have a majority like that so I’m going to work on it and I hope that all my Geneva colleagues will do the same,” explains national advisor Estelle Revaz.
The elected PS has an idea: “We are moving from the DFAE, a department very affected by the cuts, to another, culture, also extremely affected. So why not consider a transfer to the Department of Defense. The Red Cross is linked to the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland is the depositary of these Conventions, but it is the laws which govern war, therefore armed people, therefore the army” develops the Socialist.
This is not the only saving measure that concerns International Geneva: The Diplomatic Security Brigade, the Foundation for International Organizations, and customs at the airport could also suffer budget cuts.
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