Cigarette butts, toilet flushing, bark beetles: these were the strangest ideas from politicians in 2023

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Credit Suisse rescue, energy crisis and pension provision. This year too, our politicians have tackled the country’s major problems, but not alone. There were also plenty of bizarre advances. A selection.

Marie Roth Pasquier (55, center) fights Zigistummel. Nearly half a million of them are thrown to the ground in the city of Geneva every day, she writes in the justification for her initiative. Their solution: cigarette manufacturers should be forced to integrate an ashtray directly into the Cigi package. A Swiss company offers corresponding solutions.

Whether it is a large or small company: Felix Wettstein (65, Green Party) will take care of it. He wants a report from the Federal Council on how to flush toilets efficiently. In Switzerland, approximately 40 liters of drinking water are flushed down the toilet per person per day. Would less be possible? But the Federal Council is angry: it does not want to write a report.

The bark beetle has wreaked havoc in forests over the past two years. This has consequences for the sale of Swiss wood. Because wood infected by the beetle sometimes turns blue-gray, no one wants to buy it anymore. For Vaud SVP National Councilor Yvan Pahud (43, SVP) it is clear who could intervene: the federal government. He should act as a role model and use bark beetle wood in his own buildings. A cost-saving measure that hurts the eyes at best.

The wine lobby also brought work to the Swiss parliament this year. Jean-Luc Addor (59, SVP) demands that Swiss wineries contain at least 50 percent Swiss wine. So instead of Chianti the pizza should be served with a Wallis Dôle. The Federal Council does not like it: the committee led by winemaker Guy Parmelin (64, SVP) recommends rejecting the proposal.

Our representatives are concerned about healthy sleep. Mauro Poggia (64, MCG) wants the traffic rules to be adjusted so that police, fire trucks and ambulances only have to turn on the blue light at night, but not the siren, when they drive through the intersection at a red light. in case of an emergency. In that sense: good night.

For many, leaf blowers are a symbol of politics: they fuel a problem but only postpone it rather than ultimately eliminate it. This is not why Nicolas Walder (57, Green Party) wants to ban petrol-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers, but because of the toxic particles they would emit. Without much ado, the Federal Council recommends rejecting the proposal. (bro/sf)

Source:Blick