‘Greens are only looking for someone to blame for their failure’

The Greens are ugly. Even their regular partners SP and GLP do not want to support an explosive candidacy for the successor of the Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer (71) in advance. The Greens have therefore thrown in the towel. You abstain from your own candidacy and leave the field to the SVP.

The Greens continue to insist that, purely mathematically, they have long been entitled to a seat in the state government. They blame the “power cartel” of the Federal Council parties for their retreat. Group leader Aline Trede (39) speaks of a “planned game”. This also includes SP and GLP.

Green “ill-prepared”

No kind words for the political alliance partners. Especially in the SP, which itself has to fear for one of its two wobbly Federal Council seats, people are surprised about the whining of the eco-party.

“What the Greens call a power cartel is called concordance,” SP Land Councilor Fabian Molina (32, ZH) counters. If the Greens adhered to concordance, it would be absurd to attack the SVP as the largest party.

But if they wanted a systemic change to a substantive coalition, they should speak out openly. “Whether you want to change the system or just change the magic formula, this only makes sense in the case of total renewal elections,” says Molina. “The Greens are again ill-prepared for the race and are only looking for someone to blame for their failure. This is unfortunate.”

“Action was poorly planned”

Other Social Democrats also shake their heads at the Greens’ “embarrassing move”, even if they don’t want to say so publicly. “The action was poorly planned,” says an SP politician. The green tip entered the race with no concept and no candidacy.

Knowing that a candidacy against the SVP doesn’t stand a chance anyway, such an explosive candidacy as a PR campaign should have been discussed in a completely different way. “The Greens now need a scapegoat for their botched operation to distract from their own mistakes.”

The Greens have wanted to take responsibility for three years, “but they still can’t decide whether they want to be part of the state or not,” says a comrade. And mockery: so far the Greens have done nothing, “just an import ban on foie gras. That’s all”.

GLP-Grossen: Greens would have done more harm than good

GLP chairman Jürg Grossen (53) also does not want to let the allegations of the Greens rest. On the contrary: “We informed the Greens in good time that they cannot count on our support for this action.” The party has a mathematical right to a seat in the Bundesrat, but not at the expense of the SVP with the most votes. Such an attack would likely have harmed the Greens and with it their future ambitions of the Federal Council.

But it’s also clear that in the 2023 election, if the Greens and GLP grew again, the cards would be reshuffled. “If the Greens make another legitimate effort then, we can imagine support,” assures Grossen. If the GLP can increase their voting share from today’s 7.8 percent to 10 percent, they will even want to claim a seat on the Federal Council themselves.

But even then, it is to be feared that the incumbent parties of the Federal Council would defend themselves against loss of power and argue again that no previous members of the government should be voted out. “But that would be unfair and would not reflect the will of the voters. The largest possible part of the electorate should be represented in the Bundesrat,” Grossen clarifies.

Greens are disappointed

Until then, however, the GLP chairman does not fear that a mess will arise in the bio warehouse. “The good relationship with the Greens is not affected by this,” says Grossen. Even with the failed candidacy of the Federal Council of then Green President Regula Rytz (60), there was only “a little more distance” for a short time. “In the end, however, we pursue the same goals in the areas of climate, environment and energy and we work well together.” (dba/rus/lha/pt)