Internal sources confirm: Roger Nordmann wants to be Berset’s successor

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When Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59) from Jura replaced Simonetta Sommaruga (63) from Bern in the government at the end of last year, it seemed clear that the successor to Alain Berset (51) could only come from German-speaking Switzerland. That will probably change.

Seat of the Federal Council of the SP: Who will succeed Alain Berset in the Federal Council?

Blick has received confirmation from various SP sources that Vaud national councilor Roger Nordmann (50) plans to announce his ambitions this week. “Roger is going to work on Wednesday,” one of his comrades explains. He is not surprised that the election of Elisabeth Baume-Schneider does not prevent the political dinosaur – he has been a member of the National Council since 2004 – from throwing his hat into the ring.

So far, all the people who have announced their ambitions for the Federal Council have come from German-speaking Switzerland. This concerns the Zurich state councilor Daniel Jositsch (58), the Bernese national councilor Matthias Aebischer (55), the Basel government councilor Beat Jans (59) and the Graubünden national councilor Jon Pult (38).

Politically strong and articulate

Roger Nordmann is an in-depth expert on the Federal Palace. He is an expert on energy issues, an astute and respected politician and a smart strategist. He is not a brilliant speaker, but he has a good command of the German language, which allowed him to become party leader of the SP in 2015. He recently relinquished this mandate after being elected as a member of the Parliamentary Investigation Committee (PUK) for Credit Suisse – further proof of the trust he enjoys under the federal umbrella.

Nordmann rarely shies away from provocations, even if they are incompatible with the usual tone of a federal councilor. He described the circumstances surrounding the Credit Suisse takeover as a “disgrace for Switzerland”. The same Nordmann caused a stir in French-speaking Switzerland in May when he described the financial and peasant representatives in the Council of States as an “alliance of money and nonsense”.

The hope of chaos

Nordmann’s chances of securing Berset’s position are slim on paper, especially since the Social Democratic delegation has decent candidates from German-speaking Switzerland. So why should he compete at all? “Roger Nordmann believes that the German-speaking Swiss will tear each other apart in the elections and that he could benefit from the chaos and his unifying nature,” the source said. Even though the source describes Nordmann’s chances as slim, she is confident that the Lausanne native would make a good federal councilor.

Profit from chaos? Roger Normdann already benefited from this as party leader of the SP. “That’s right, but this time it will be more difficult,” says an active group member. The delegates not only want a Swiss-German, but also a fresh perspective, which would not be the case with a 50-year-old who has been politically active for almost twenty years. However, some observers believe that the SP needs a strong Federal Council – and Nordmann could be that.

Romain Pilloud, the chairman of the SP in the canton of Vaud, declined to comment on whether Nordmann would stand as a candidate or not. Roger Nordmann himself replied to Blick’s question that he did not have time to comment on the information.

Source:Blick