Pension initiative comes for the people: the ball and the leg of the FDP

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The FDP accused the competition of “refusal to work”, the SP sneered: “cabaret”. There was only agreement on one point: what happened in the last week of the summer session in Bern was not exactly a highlight for Parliament.

Special session over in an hour

But first of all: after the National Council instructed its social committee to work out by a razor-thin majority a counter-proposal to the FDP’s pension initiative calling for a gradual increase in the retirement age, a hastily convened meeting was held last Monday.

Although scheduled for 90 minutes, the meeting lasted less than an hour. And before all the motions could be tabled, the members of the central committee left the room. They still had to take care of their party’s nominations for the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (PUK).

Until then, no counter-proposal variant had found a majority in the committee. The center rejected a model in which retirement age would be linked to years of service – even though former national councilor for the center, Ruth Humbel, had called for just this in a postulate. Suddenly the SVP didn’t want to hear anything about a debt brake. In short: the meeting was unsuccessful. Refusal to work, cabaret?

The next day Andri Silberschmidt (29, FDP) tried to save what could no longer be saved in the big room. Doing nothing is not a solution, the youngest member of parliament bumped into the hall of the National Council. He warned once again that the AHV would face financial abyss in the longer term without rapid intervention.

Silberschmidt’s party friend Regine Sauter (57) had previously expressed sharp criticism. The Council seems to be following the motto of not wanting to burn their hands before the autumn elections. Sauter warned: “The AHV is too important for such games!” Only such votes died out under the dome of the Federal Palace – the National Council decided by 140 votes to 42 to take the pension initiative to the polls in March next year without an indirect counter-proposal.

A moderate increase in the retirement age will safeguard pensions

For the FDP, the worst-case scenario has therefore come true. In the election year of all times, the party must go out and vote for a cause that is rejected by large segments of the population. Had there been a counter-proposal, the Liberals would likely have withdrawn the pension initiative they launched in 2019 – arguing that the AHV reform voted by the people last year would have defused the situation for now. Recent events in Parliament have now destroyed this exit strategy.

Of course the liberals see it differently. Chairman Thierry Burkart (47), himself a member of the initiative committee: “The FDP still fully supports the pension initiative.” A moderate increase in the retirement age will secure the pensions of the baby boom generation. It is a real solution to the labor shortage that would also greatly reduce immigration. “The fact that parts of the GLP and SVP are getting cold feet in an election year further reinforces our position.”

FDP split internally

The young liberals are leading the pension initiative. But the mother party is also behind it. At the delegates’ meeting in January 2020, the FDP unanimously decided to help their fledgling party collect signatures for the popular initiative. In addition to Burkart, the initiative committee also includes established party figures such as FDP vice-chairman Philippe Nantermod (39), State Councilor Andrea Caroni (43), Christa Markwalder (47) and Christian Wasserfallen (41).

However, the ranks are no longer completely closed. A prominent FDP national councilor told SonntagsBlick that the initiative was “too extreme”. “So the concern is barely able to get a majority — it’s dead in my opinion.”

Will the pension initiative in the autumn of the elections now become a stumbling block for the FDP? Andri Silberschmidt vehemently disagrees: “Unlike the other parties, we say nothing else before the elections than after the elections.” The topic will help mobilization: “It will be an election booster for the FDP!”

FDP must proceed with caution

Political geographer Michael Hermann (51) only partly shares this view. “It’s the right care for the right party.” But if the FDP want to be among the victors in October, they must score points outside their comfort zone. This initiative tends to act as a deterrent, especially to the voters it aims to alienate from the SVP. It does not help much if party chairman Thierry Burkart wants to fish in this pond with his tougher asylum policy. His predecessor was shipwrecked when he attempted something similar on the other side. Before the 2019 climate elections, Petra Gössi (47) said she was environmentally friendly – ​​the progressive votes went to the GLP anyway. Hermann: “You shouldn’t concern yourself with subjects that others are better at.”

Automatic raising of the retirement age is a no-go for the Greens

For the left, the retirement initiative is a gift that people are happy to accept. Green president Balthasar Glättli (51) puts it more elegantly: “Out of compassion for the political opponent, we will of course not spread a cloak of silence”, but SVP and GLP will not be spared either. They would have shown their true colors with their original support for a counter-proposal in parliament.

For the Greens, however, an automatic increase in the retirement age is never an option. “We take this steep pass,” says Glättli. “Ordinary people aren’t getting out of here anytime soon.”

AHV is slandered by the FDP

Mattea Meyer (35), co-chair of the SP, prefers not to be in liberal shoes in the coming months. “They know that their request at the ballot box has no chance,” says the Zurich National Council. In any case, the Federal Council is working out a new reform by 2026.

The FDP only pisses off the AHV to scare people and convince them to invest in private facilities. “Insurance companies make a fortune there,” criticizes Meyer. The hard course that the FDP is taking in the provision or asylum field is an attempt to copy the SVP. Clearly, “A pandering always helps the original.”

On Friday, the Young Liberals symbolically buried the AHV on the Bundesplatz. It gave the impression that the initiators themselves no longer believed in their resuscitation measures.

Source:Blick