Eva Herzog (SP) from Basel will become the new chairman of the Council of States: she wants to give the cities a stronger voice

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SP State Councilor Eva Herzog (61) from the canton of Basel-Stadt would have liked to be the successor to Simonetta Sommaruga (63) in the Federal Council last December. Current Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59) ultimately won the race. Herzog subsequently took Baume-Schneider’s seat as vice president of the Council of States.

That is why another prestigious office now beckons: the Chairmanship of the Council of States. The presidium of the small room in the Federal Palace would like to use it as a “platform for a cosmopolitan and urban Switzerland,” Herzog said.

Four years in the Council of States

In October’s elections for the Council of States, Herzog received almost 42,700 votes – about six times as many as his second-place centrist rival. Since Carl Miville (1891-1981) forty years ago, no candidate for the Basel Council of States has achieved such a clear result. “It was a wonderful result. I can confidently stand up and say that I represent the city,” said Herzog.

Herzog has been a councilor of Staten for four years. In 2019 she succeeded Anita Fetz (66). She considers Switzerland’s relationship with the EU, individual taxation, banking regulation, the Basel railway junction and education, research and innovation policies as important topics. In a recent interpellation, she argued for cities to be involved in negotiations with the EU.

There is still a motion pending that calls for research into bank customer archives to be made possible. She was also supported on this issue by middle-class politicians such as the resigned Ruedi Noser (62, FDP) and Jakob Stark (65, SVP). However, her proposal for equal pay analyzes in companies was rejected by the Council of States.

Formative politician in the Basel government

Before her time as state councilor, Herzog was the defining figure in Basel’s government. As financial director, she brought a series of surpluses to the once heavily indebted city canton. Supported by a good economic situation, the country has always been able to produce huge accounting surpluses, accompanied by tax cuts and reductions in net debt.

Herzog grew up in the community of Pratteln in Basel. She doesn’t like to talk about her private life. What is known is that she has two sons with a former journalist for the “Basler Zeitung” and Radio SRF and lives in a terraced house in the Neubadquartier in Basel.

Herzog has a PhD in historians. “I would study history again,” Herzog said. “I find it exciting how society is changing and it has given me the desire to shape that myself.” Initially she did not want to enter politics. The Basel Constitutional Council then offered itself the opportunity to help shape politics at the grassroots level. She then took it.

Big festival in Basel

Herzog started her professional career as a management member of the cultural workshop Kaserne. There she was responsible for organizing lectures and discussions from 1995 to 1999. Until her election to the government council in 2004, she worked as a research assistant at the Vice Rectorate for Research of the University of Basel.

That Herzog does not always politicize along party lines became clear in 2016, when she, together with former federal councilor Ueli Maurer (72), fought in the forefront for corporate tax reform III, even though her party had passed the referendum against it. The Swiss electorate has rejected the reform. However, this had no influence on Herzog’s popularity among the Basel SP and the population.

While Herzog takes over the presidency of the Council of States, her Baselbie SP colleague Eric Nussbaumer (63) becomes chairman of the National Council. That is why the two Basels organize the festival together in honor of the two heads of parliament. (SDA)

Source:Blick