Ernst Stocker: Many thanks. Of course it is more pleasant to be elected well instead of just narrowly. But the election results also show that a large majority of the population appreciates my personal commitment to good solutions for the benefit of this canton. This is naturally a good and valuable signal for the coming four years.

The distribution of the directorates will keep you busy in the coming weeks. Are you already looking at the cards?

That is always a well-kept secret of the Zurich Government Council. I hope it will remain that way - as it was four years ago, when my assistant learned that I was moving to the Finance Directorate only two hours before the official announcement of the distribution of portfolios. So you will have to be patient a little longer. You will find out on Monday 6 May. But no white noise, because the Clean Air Act prohibits us...

The canton of Zurich has a lot at stake in the vote on the AHV tax bill. Do you already dare to make a prognosis?

I am convinced that the bill is capable of winning a majority. From left to right, well-known circles have recognised that we must act and that the bill is perhaps not exactly an everyday compromise, but a typical Swiss compromise.

And the cantonal implementation bill that will be put to the vote in September? The parliamentary debate has come through its draft well. Will those entitled to vote follow the parliament?

I am very satisfied with the parliamentary debate. As in the preliminary consultation, it was conducted with great commitment, and it has become clear that it would cost the Canton of Zurich and its municipalities more to reject it than to implement it. It is regrettable that the SP and the Greens are completely closed to this insight, although their exponents such as Mayor Corine Mauch (SP) and Daniel Leupi (Greens) are also campaigning for the bill. And if the two parties are calling for social cushioning, then I simply have to say that we already have this in the federal bill with the AHV part. The Canton of Zurich and its inhabitants will benefit particularly from this because of the redistribution in the AHV. It is also a fact that we already have much lower tax rates at cantonal level, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, than the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Vaud or Geneva, which are now working with such quibblers.

There are other bills under discussion that want to turn the tax screw at various points. What is your assessment? Can the cantonal budget cope with further tax cuts?

The tax bill will cost the canton a great deal because it will pass on the additional revenues from federal tax directly to the municipalities. The canton will have to finance its losses itself. In addition, the Government Council has planned to reduce the state tax rate for everyone from 100 to 98 percent. If further tax cuts and above all the shifting of burdens from the municipalities to the canton are now being demanded, then I wonder where the view of the whole picture is left. After all, it is impossible for anything to be enough.

Seen from the outside, you are regarded as one of the driving forces driving forward cross-sectional tasks in cantonal administration such as IT, human resources or the management of your own real estate. Will the individual directorates soon have to be restructured?

These centralisations are a very complex and delicate task. They affect established structures and to some extent the self-image of individual directorates. But this task is necessary: The administration must adapt to the changed environment and, among other things, take into account the digitisation of our society in our own services. For example, there is no telling what the advantage would be if each directorate in IT were to run its own train, choose its own systems for elementary applications and procure the associated hardware and software itself. It is clear to every CT foundation that this - seen over all - will only be more expensive and not cheaper.

On a strategic level - where do you see the greatest challenges for the canton for the next legislature and beyond?

On the one hand, there are of course all the questions relating to the growth of this canton. On the other hand, there are also the financial policy issues. These include the reform of corporate taxation, which is now imminent. However, it is equally important to find a balanced distribution of tasks and burdens between the canton and the municipalities: it cannot be done in any case and leads to a dead end if the burdens are distributed in such a way that in fact only the municipalities have financial leeway and the canton can no longer maintain its offerings - for example in education. This would damage Zurich as a business location.

Thank you very much, Mr. Regierungsrat, for the interview!