After many indiscretions: the Federal Council defends itself against Corona accusations

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The Federal Council does not agree with the criticism of the Audit Committees (GPK) of the National Council and the Council of States. After numerous indiscretions during the corona pandemic that led to media reports, they started looking into the information leaks. The focus was mainly on Health Minister Alain Berset (51), who has now resigned.

The Ringier media in particular, to which Blick belongs, benefited from the indiscretions. But the ‘Tages-Anzeiger’ also published many indiscretions, as the GPK reported last November. At the same time, however, she could not determine where the leaks were coming from. Documents had already been deleted or no longer existed at the time of the investigation.

Law enforcement must be intensified

Parliamentary supervision concluded in its report that the Corona leaks could not be directly attributed to the then Federal Councilor Berset. However, like all other members of the Federal Council, he did not do enough to combat indiscretions.

But the state government disagrees. She has already taken many measures to combat the problem, she emphasizes in her report published on Wednesday. In 2023 alone, twelve criminal complaints for indiscretion were filed with the Federal Public Prosecution Service. Access to Federal Council matters classified as secret should also be restricted.

The Federal Council believes that many of the nine recommendations of the GPK have already been fulfilled. Further steps are also being considered. For example, the evaluation of peripheral data regarding access to Federal Council cases should be made easier. “This is intended to improve the conditions for the prosecution of violations of state secrets,” the Federal Council explained in a statement on Wednesday.

No information about the creators of the leaks

Based on its political research, the GPK has drawn up recommendations, including regulations on background discussions, deletion deadlines for emails and minutes of the Federal Council. However, she found no evidence that Peter Lauener (53), the former spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, or his boss Berset violated official secrecy or provided information to the media in advance.

Former special investigator Peter Marti had investigated in a separate legal procedure whether Lauener – possibly on behalf of federal councilor Berset – had knowingly committed violations of official secrecy. He passed on information in advance to Ringier’s CEO, Marc Walder (58), so that Blick would put pressure on the entire Federal Council with his reporting. In an attempt to prove this, Marti made serious procedural errors.

The GPK found no evidence that Blick reported on behalf of the EDI. Even after ten months of investigation by the GPK, this could not be substantiated.

Berset defended himself against the GPK’s criticism

After the GPK report was published, Berset’s Interior Department made critical comments about the work of parliamentary oversight. Despite the analysis of more than 10,000 emails, no evidence of premature reporting on confidential Federal Council matters was found.

The department emphasized that contacts between administration and actors are crucial for government action. These would have had no influence on media reporting. The regular conversation with Ringier CEO Walder related to projects such as the Covid certificate.

The department criticized the one-sidedness of the report. This could affect the separation of powers and lead to prejudice.

Source:Blick