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The day before yesterday, Viola Amherd (61) managed to triumph. The Minister of Defense announced to journalists the new strong man in her department. From next year, Jean-Daniel Ruch (60) will head the specially established State Secretariat for Security Policy, Sepos for short.
With the increase in staff, the Valais woman has won a power struggle with FDP federal councilor Ignazio Cassis (62); It is no coincidence that some of the tasks of the future authority are suspiciously reminiscent of the core task of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The audience knows little about the chosen one. The diplomat is not a party, comes from Moutier in the Bernese Jura region and currently heads the Swiss representation in Ankara.
He does not seem to suffer from a lack of self-confidence: at the media conference in question he recited a poem from the French Renaissance in which he openly compared himself to the Greek legendary hero Odysseus in the presence of his future superiors.
What also stood out was his committed voice for neutrality, which, as he emphasized, “contributes a lot to Swiss soft power.”
Neutrality or NATO?
This is remarkable because it is known that his future boss Amherd has adopted a relatively NATO-friendly attitude within the Federal Council since the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine; In July, in the presence of her Austrian counterpart, she announced Switzerland’s entry into the European air defense system Sky Shield.
That raises the question that commentators have already raised between the lines: how loyal is the promoted person to his new mistress – and how does he personally stack up on issues of neutrality policy?
Against this background, it is worth noting what Diplomat Ruch has achieved on the business network Linkedin. There, a former federal official from French-speaking Switzerland published a euphoric article about Ruch’s appointment; The author is overjoyed that Ruch has surpassed the “ambitious and cunning” Pälvi Pulli (52). The ambassador and security expert at the DDPS was also reportedly interested in the job.
And, the text continues, may the new State Secretary put a stop to the country’s “chaotic drift” towards NATO. However, given the “NATO loyalty” (“tropisme otanien”) of “our Minister of War” and her party, this is a “Herculean task”. Obviously this refers to Viola Amherd and her party Die Mitte.
But for this venture, the rant’s author continues, Ruch must first “put his future subordinate” Pälvi Pulli, who is an “impressive NATO turbo,” “in a box.”
As if these lines weren’t sensitive enough, now comes the real highlight: Ruch gave this pamphlet a thumbs up; he pressed “Like”.
Pretty undiplomatic for a diplomat.
How does this relate to the “common values” to which Amherd and its future top official just publicly swore? Apparently there were several questions from the media about it, and CH Media also reported on the incident on Saturday.
After SonntagsBlick asked the VBS on Friday morning, Jean-Daniel Ruch’s personal statement followed just a few hours later: he had not even read the text, which he confirmed with a click.
“Overlooking explanations”
“I liked the post from my former colleague, who congratulated me on the appointment,” says Ruch. “The text passages below with the statements about Federal Councilor Viola Amherd and Ambassador Pälvi Pulli were not visible and I overlooked them.” He distances himself “in all forms” from the statements to Amherd and Pulli.
It was only thanks to the request that he “became aware” of the content and removed the like.
Instead, he then added a comment below the controversial post: “Thank you for the compliment, but I appreciate the work of the federal councilor and look forward to working with Ms. Pulli.”
As Ruch’s current employer, the EDA does not want to add anything to the case when asked.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
