Attack on FDP federal councilors: “A deselection would be irresponsible”

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Now the renewal elections on December 13 still promise excitement. On this day, Parliament meets to actually determine the successor to Alain Berset (51). But now the Greens have announced that they want to launch an attack on one of the FDP’s seats. The parliamentary group decided this unanimously on Saturday, says group leader Aline Trede (40).

Trede also said that the FDP is clearly the party that is over-represented in the Federal Council. “The party must now take responsibility and make space,” she said. The magic formula is dead: “We have therefore clearly decided in the faction that we will attack an FDP seat and not an SP seat,” Trede continued.

Foreign Minister Cassis in particular should be concerned; he has been repeatedly criticized in recent years.

GLP is still hesitant

The Green Liberals could not yet say definitively on Saturday whether they would give the Greens a helping hand with this plan. “We believe it is legitimate to discuss the composition of the Federal Council, the magic formula has worked its magic,” GLP President Jürg Grossen (54) told Blick. The FDP is also over-represented in the state government for him.

“Our group will discuss in detail whether we support a Green candidacy for the Federal Council under the current circumstances.” That depends, among other things, on whether “the Greens can nominate suitable candidates”.

FDP party chairman Thierry Burkart (48) told the “Aargauer Zeitung” before the Greens’ public attack on Saturday: “The decision-making and leadership capacity of the committee would not be increased if other parties came to the Federal Council.”

“Create a mess”

But the Liberals will certainly not voluntarily give up a seat in government. “It is common for sitting federal councilors to be re-elected. We assume that this will also be the case in December,” FDP spokesperson Marco Wölfli made clear to Blick.

The two FDP federal councilors Ignazio Cassis (62) and Karin Keller-Sutter (59) have done a very good job. “We expect the center to keep its word that it will not help to vote out sitting federal council members,” Wölfli said. “A deselection would be irresponsible and cause a mess in important files.”

The center’s president, Gerhard Pfister, has said into all microphones since election Sunday that his center will not vote out any sitting federal councilors. If the center remains there, it will not be easy for the Greens to gain a seat in government at the expense of the FDP. Even if the SP – of which there is no sign yet – were to help the Greens with the plan, they do not have a majority.

Not the first attack on Cassis

The Bernese SVP Council of States Werner Salzmann (60) also called the attack by the Greens on the FDP a ‘no undertaking’.

The Greens and their then party chairman Regula Rytz (61) entered the race against Cassis in 2019. At the time, the Greens felt strengthened by the so-called climate elections, their great success in the federal elections a few weeks earlier.

Although Rytz was supported by the Social Democrats at the time, the venture failed in the first round of voting.

Source:Blick