The Vaud Council of State sent its counter-project to the popular initiative “For an ambitious Vaud sports policy!” to the Grand Council on Tuesday. Resulting from the first cantonal Concept of sport and physical activity, the document was adjusted according to feedback from the public consultation open from the end of June to the end of last August, wrote the Vaud government on Tuesday in a press release. Neither the spirit of the project nor the financial means have been modified, he emphasizes.
Concretely, the government’s project aims to support transversal sports policies such as health, inclusion or integrity, popular and associative sport, physical education, school and extracurricular sport, international sport, the economy and research, elite sport and the promotion of the next generation. Without forgetting the sports infrastructures and spaces for movement.
National and regional
Among the changes made, the counter-project now includes support for the organization of Swiss championships on Vaud soil, while it was initially focused on international events. The measure aims to strengthen the attractiveness of the canton as host of national sporting events.
Furthermore, it provided support exclusively for national performance centers (NPCs). Its final version also includes regional performance centers.
Finally, the ceilings and subsidy rates have been adapted to respond in a more targeted manner to the needs of local authorities and the Vaud associative fabric. The two framework credits, totaling 150 million francs over six years, will subsidize up to 35% of the construction of regional sports infrastructure.
Vote by September 2025
The 36 measures proposed as part of the counter-project represent an increase in operating costs for the benefit of sport, physical activity and movement of nearly 36 million per year, specifies the press release. Added to this are those linked to investments in the form of two framework credits of 150 million.
These amounts combined with the financial commitments of the State (current budget and subsidies), bring the total annual funding of Vaudois sport to more than 72 million. Subject to its approval by the Grand Council, the counter-project of the Council of State could be submitted to popular vote by September 2025.
The popular initiative “For an ambitious Vaud sports policy!”, carried by deputies Sergei Aschwanden (PLR) and Sébastien Cala (PS), was successful in August 2022. It had collected 24,000 signatures, twice as many as the minimum required. She demands that the canton devotes at least 100 million per year to sport in all its forms.
