The Beginning of Federal Financial Support

22 September 2020

July 25, 1867, is an essential but almost forgotten date in Switzerland’s modern history. On this day, the parliament in Bern decided, for the first time, to allocate federal funding for projects in the cantons.

These federal subsidies covered the high costs of the Jura Water Correction Project (La Correction des eaux du Jura/Juragewässerkorrektion) in the cantons of Fribourg, Bern, Neuchâtel, Vaud, and Solothurn from 1868 to 1891.

By today’s standards, the Federal Government contributed about two billion CHF. The Rubicon (in this case, the Aare) was crossed.