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Suisse: The Defense Department now has more than 100 communicators
Despite criticism of elected officials, last year, the number of positions allocated to communication increased again within the department taken up by Martin Pfister.
Federal councilor Martin Pfister manages the largest department in Confederation.
20min / Matthias SpicherThe workforce is now 106. It is the number of full -time equivalents that work within the Department of Defense (DDPS), on which the army depends in particular, and which are assigned to public relations. Way mass: approximately 24.5 million francs, according to our colleagues from “20 minute”. Critics had already been issued last year by elected officials, but the new federal adviser Martin Pfister, instead of reducing the wing, increased it by more than a dozen positions.
“These positions are only the previous part of the iceberg: the whole federal administration is overwhelming, not to mention the annual expenses of around 675 million devoted to external consultants,” deplores the national councilor Michael Götte (UDC/SG). Same embarrassment in the center: “If we have to decide whether the DDPS must invest in ammunition stocks or in communication centers, I am clearly on the side of ammunition”, abounds Reto Nausea (C/BE), considering offering a freezing of hires.
Guarantee a multilingual comm
Sarah Wyss (PS/BS) also finds that there is a problem but warns: cut in the posts, yes, but it is necessary to save the translators in order to guarantee a multilingual communication. For its part, the DDPS recalls that it is the largest department in the Confederation, with 12,000 employees. In addition, the defense group, within the armed forces, has an “operational component with specific communication needs”, according to the press service.
“DDPS communication managers are intended to communicate in the most effective, fastest and most economical way as possible,” said the department. Who claims to regularly examine potential savings and efficiency gains.
The press service also had a job by responding to the “Sonntagszeitung”, which devotes an article to the Cobra mortars. The army is acquiring 48 units for 600 million francs, the first having just been delivered, many years later than expected. However, to pull, they must open the roof of the tank roof on which they went up, making soldiers vulnerable to opposing fire or drone attacks.
Several elected officials criticize and are now concerned about this choice. Federal finance control had also vilified the purchasing process, judging the acquisition “difficult to understand”. The Federal Armament Office continues to defend it, while admitting that the system does not have specific protection against drones. But with the closed hatch, the vehicles offer “adequate ballistic protection”, he says.