Escape to the Interior Department: the challenges are great, expectations are low

In her eight years as Minister of Justice, Sommaruga also faced criticism from the SVP. However, she managed to implement a major asylum reform using accelerated procedures. Her successor Karin Keller-Sutter (59, FDP) especially benefited from this.

A poor balance sheet

Baume-Schneider also first had to come to terms with the unpopular EJPD. Like Keller-Sutter, the SP councilor had to deal with the consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine. So far, the share of Ukrainian women who can work – often women with children – is only 20 percent.

In addition to the 66,000 Ukrainians still in the country, a particularly large number of refugees came to Switzerland via the Balkan route this year. Many people in this country do not even apply for asylum, but instead continue to travel.

Baume-Schneider cannot do anything about the flow of refugees. But she is responsible for handling it. And here the comrade has a meager record. Their calls for the Italian authorities to take back refugees who came to us from there have therefore gone unheard.

Their plan to reduce quotas for foreign workers also failed. The entire Federal Council whistled them back. And there is still their biggest defeat: the residential containers.

The SP minister wanted to place containers for refugees as a preventive measure, so that there would be sufficient beds this autumn. But the idea failed in parliament. She had not sufficiently involved parliament, but also the cantons and municipalities, in her plans.

The comrade thinks she has specialist knowledge

These are bad harbingers for your new tasks in EDI. There she becomes responsible for healthcare costs, which are constantly rising. It is doubtful that Baume-Schneider will prove to be an assertive magistrate here.

The EDI urgently needs new impetus, but Baume-Schneider has not proven particularly convincing in this area either. Even their pilot project to complete the asylum process for North Africans within 24 hours is ultimately not a new invention. There have already been accelerated procedures for asylum applications that had little chance of success.

The lawyer, trained social worker and former rector of the University of Social Work and Health in Lausanne, believes that she has the necessary specialist knowledge to score points with social insurance.

But in 2024, the country will have to process no fewer than five referenda. The Young Liberals’ pension initiative will start at the beginning of March and aims to link the retirement age to life expectancy. She also has to compete against her party friends who are demanding a 13th AHV pension.

How long will she last?

The two votes will be a first test for the SP federal councilor. If the people do not decide in their favor, the pressure on the EDI will also increase. Can the Jura resident tolerate this for a legislature? There won’t be another way to escape the department anytime soon.

The comrade, who celebrates her 60th birthday on Christmas Eve, wants to remain in office until at least the age of 65. The successes of her predecessor Alain Berset (51, SP) are manageable even after twelve years.