Federal Council approves addendum I to 2026 budget
Bern, 13.03.2026 — During its meeting on 13 March 2026, the Federal Council approved a total of four supplementary credits. It is thus requesting additional expenditure of CHF 98 million for this year. Most of these funds will go towards EU research and innovation programmes. A portion of the supplementary credits will be offset on the expenditure side.
With addendum I to the 2026 budget, the Federal Council is requesting four supplementary credits totalling CHF 98 million from Parliament.
EU research programmes (67.3 mn): as part of the negotiations on the Switzerland-EU package (Bilaterals III)), Switzerland and the EU signed the EU Programmes Agreement (EUPA) on 10 November 2025. This sets out how Switzerland will participate in the Horizon package. Switzerland has to pay a mandatory contribution to participate in these programmes (Horizon Europe, Euratom and Digital Europe, as well as participation in ITER research infrastructure). For various reasons (increase in the budget for research programmes, exchange rate developments and reserve for higher contribution key), a supplementary credit of CHF 67.3 million is required relative to the 2026 budget.
European Space Agency (7.6 mn): Switzerland is a founding member of the European Space Agency (ESA). At the end of 2025, the ESA Council at ministerial level increased the mandatory contributions for member states (Switzerland's share for 2026: +2.6 mn). Furthermore, Switzerland will additionally contribute CHF 5 million to the ESA programme known as European Resilience from Space, resulting in a total cost increase of CHF 7.6 million in 2026.
SBB Cargo AG (19.9 mn): a supplementary credit of CHF 19.9 million is requested to compensate SBB Cargo AG for single wagonload traffic. The plan is for SBB Cargo AG to operate single wagonload traffic in a financially self-sufficient manner in the medium term. To achieve this goal, payments are to be made on a degressive rather than a linear basis. The total funding volume will remain unchanged for 2026 to 2029, but a supplementary credit is needed for this year.
Car transport (3.16 mn): the 2026 budget currently only provides for operating contributions for car transport trains through the Furka Tunnel. However, Parliament considers car transport trains via the Simplon Tunnel to be of national importance. The Confederation will now cover the corresponding costs for car transport trains via the Simplon Tunnel as well (around 2.35 mn), thereby relieving the canton of Valais of this task. Moreover, there are additional costs for rolling stock for Furka car transport (approximately 0.8 mn).
With respect to the total supplementary credits, CHF 28.1 million will be offset on the expenditure side. In addition, the Federal Council transferred credits of CHF 14.5 million. Overall, the federal budget will be burdened with a further CHF 84.4 million in 2026.
What are supplementary credits?
Supplementary credits are add-ons to the budget for the current year; they are to cover unavoidable expenses or investment expenditure, and require parliamentary approval. Requests for supplementary credits can be submitted if it was not possible to foresee the need for funds earlier, if delayed payment would result in considerable disadvantages and if it is not possible to wait until the next budget. The administrative units concerned have to provide full justification for their additional credit needs. The Federal Council usually submits supplementary credit requests to Parliament twice a year in a dispatch.