The Geneva State Councilor believes that Switzerland has not acted decisively enough towards its neighboring country.Image: www.imago-images.de
Geneva State Councilor Carole-Anne Kast criticizes the federal government’s approach to negotiations with France over the costs of the G7 summit in Évian. Switzerland had not acted decisively enough towards its neighboring country, she said in an interview.
July 8, 2026, 11:02 amJuly 8, 2026, 11:02 am
“For Geneva, the expenses in connection with the summit amounted to 31.6 million francs,” said Kast in an interview published on Wednesday with the French-speaking Swiss business newspaper “L’Agefi”.
According to Kast, the federal government will cover 12.5 million francs of this amount. Bern had promised to cover 80 percent of the security costs of the affected cantons. However, the total costs exceed this limit.
Geneva continues to hope that France will participate in the remaining 20 million francs. However, the authorities in the neighboring country have not yet committed to this. “In the long term, this could put a strain on our regional relationships,” said Kast.
The SP State Councilor also criticized the federal authorities in this context. “The delegation could have been more decisive in the original negotiations,” she said. Switzerland may have relied too much on diplomacy and not enough on tough negotiations because it did not expect this French attitude.
After the G8 summit in Evian in 2003, France covered a large part of the costs. In recent months, several cantonal governments have expressed their lack of understanding of the neighboring country’s attitude.
Millions in security costs
French President Emmanuel Macron thanked Switzerland at the end of his final press conference after the G7 summit in June. Federal President Guy Parmelin also met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Evian for bilateral talks. However, Switzerland did not take part in the actual discussions between the heads of state and government; Parmelin was only invited to the gala dinner.
According to Kast, the largest cost item, at 13 million francs, is compensation for additional deployments by around 1,500 police officers. In addition, there is one million francs from the compensation fund approved by the Grand Council for damage to companies, three million francs for other security measures such as securing the runway at the airport and around 500,000 francs for cybersecurity.
However, the canton does not want to compensate companies for losses in sales. Several industry associations, including representatives of the hospitality industry, had criticized this stance. (sda)