TALK du 28 février 2018 avec Pierre Alain Schnegg

Good evening, good evening.

No, I don't think I'm going into this with a light heart. I try, as I said, to do my best, to move forward with the files, to find the best possible solutions for our canton, and the people will decide based on what they can judge. But if I believe what is being said around me, some of the other candidates think it's an advantage to have one candidate rather than two on the evening of the 25th. You have no opinion? No, I have an opinion.

It is certainly a bit different because first of all, you are confronted every day with various files, so you have a schedule that is already more than full, and on top of that you have to try to reserve a few slots for the campaign and the media, which often makes you arrive a bit late, like today. But that's incidental. And it's true that the campaign is different because of that, but a campaign remains a campaign, and you have to fight in every area.

We are in Nîmes Arc and I have taken no pride from it either. I think I tried, as I said, to do my job well. I moved forward with files, many files that had been stalled for many years. If I take the law on social assistance, it was a file that had been going in circles for four to five years. We made a proposal, a proposal that was debated in the chambers and that will very certainly go before the people. So I think that's a good thing. But we also moved forward with many other files with my team, and that's what's important. It's true that we may be shaking up a few people or institutions that were comfortably on their way and now we are demanding perhaps a little more.

That is a very one-sided view, I would say. If I take these famous norms, the CSIAS, it must be noted that almost no canton implements them as they are written. I was talking this morning about one of the tasks defined at the CSIAS level, that some cantons are 15% below what the CSIAS proposes. We never hear about that in the newspapers. We made a proposal that corresponded to the request of a parliament that spoke of 10%, and we are at 8%, which represents 2.4% of total costs. We need to be clear. And then they made a huge fuss about it. I think it is also normal for a state like ours to be concerned about equity. People who work must be able to support themselves, and there are many Bernese who have less in their pockets than those supported by the state, and that is no longer acceptable.

Yes, I believe in that a lot, that's clear. I think individual responsibility is a fundamental value for our canton as for our country. It is clear that the state must support the weakest, the state must offer a safety net for those who, for one reason or another, are going through an extremely difficult time. But it must remain something subsidiary and temporary, and the state must also do everything so that people who are going through a bad phase can get back on their feet in our society. The best integration you can have is integration through work.

But I think there is always room for maneuver in any institution. It's not just in the cantons, in all companies, and it's always something that can be done better. There is something that can be done more efficiently. There may be some things we do that are no longer necessary or adapted, other things we should do that we don't do. So it's a movement that must be permanent, and I think we must constantly recheck whether the contracts we have with our partners are fair, correct, and deliver what we signed them for. That doesn't necessarily mean it goes through austerity programs, but it's a daily job.

I like it there, but we'll see what my colleagues decide as well, and we will certainly find a coherent solution provided I am re-elected. But I know that there are already many projects that need to be finalized. We have launched several now. We have the entire restructuring of the asylum sector, the integration of these people, but also of people on social assistance. In my opinion, there is still an enormous amount of work to achieve something much more efficient that really allows people to get back on their feet in today's society, to possibly retrain, to receive the necessary support to reintegrate. So there will be a lot of work. And it's also certain that we work with hundreds and hundreds of partners, always service contracts, and I think it is also important that we review contract after contract to see if these services are still the right ones, if we have other things to provide to the population. In the health sector, it's the same thing. There will be the entire outpatient part to develop. What impact will that have on our institutions? How will they restructure and implement this program? I think we will be very busy in the coming years. There is work to do.

But I think the Bernese Jura must really assert itself. The Bernese Jura has, in my opinion, an extraordinary position within the canton of Bern. But it is up to the Bernese Jura to use this position to assert its rights, but also and above all to make proposals to become a driving force of this canton, as other regions do. The fact of being bilingual is an exceptional wealth for our canton. It also allows companies to choose Bern over another canton, even if we are not yet very attractive for companies. And we must highlight that. And this bilingualism is mainly the fact of the Bernese Jura and Bienne. I also think that the Bernese Jura and Bienne would have every interest in strengthening their ties rather than looking at each other like china dogs sometimes.

Thank you, thank you.