Can SVP favorite Albert Rösti (55) actually enter the Federal Council? And will the SP Eva Herzog (60) beat Evi Allemann (44)? Or will both links be overtaken by Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (58)?
It is still completely open who the parliament will choose on December 7 to succeed Simonetta Sommaruga (62) and Ueli Maurer (71). But behind the scenes in the Federal Council, the distribution battle for the individual departments has already begun. It could come to the big chair back.
The finance department must remain civil
Federal councilor Karin Keller-Sutter (58) would have the greatest desire to change. The Justice Department was never her favorite. Now the Liberal would have been monitoring the vacant finance department. She has already started a real advertising tour.
After all, it is the most important key department: there is no big deal in which the Minister of Finance cannot intervene. The citizens therefore want to keep it under control.
The state government decides on the allocation of wards at the post-election meeting. Members can express their wishes based on their seniority. The first is SP Interior Minister Alain Berset (50), who has been in government since 2012.
Keller-Sutter kneels in front of Berset
De Romand would have had ambitions for years to move to the finance department. After the grueling Corona period, Berset was able to strive for a new task. At the same time, he can point out that he was the first to push through an AHV reform in nearly three decades.
However, Berset will take over the federal presidency next year, so switching departments at the same time would be a major burden. Moreover, the conservatives in the Bundesrat hardly want to leave the finances to a left-wing party. Conversely, it would be an insult to virtually forbid him to switch. According to reports, Keller-Sutter is in close consultation with Berset. She asks if he will let her go first.
Amherd doesn’t want to stay forever
A rather unlikely option is for Berset to inherit Sommaruga’s energy division. In principle, it can be assumed that if the SP Federal Council changes departments, it will want to rule for a few more years. On the other hand, if he stays in the Interior Department, that would indicate he could step down after his year as president.
According to reports, Central Federal Councilor Viola Amherd (60) also has an increasing desire to change. It’s an open secret that the DDPS was never her dream department. But she has settled down and has done well. Not only because of the purchase of new fighter jets, but also because of a considerably higher army budget.
So that she could move on to the next department with a clear conscience. If she wants to. Because she would have signaled internally at the beginning of her term in office that she did not want to stay in the Bundesrat forever. Her successes in the DDPS could also have inspired the Walliser to want to meet the challenges of another department.
Amherd is currently relying on another woman from Valais: Brigitte Hauser-Süess. In early 2019, she was appointed as her personal advisor at the age of 64. She would join the federal councilor in her 2024 presidential year. Hauser-Süess has already worked for BDP federal councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (66) and CVP federal councilor Doris Leuthard (59). It is unlikely that Hauser-Süess will remain on the side of the middle magistrate after Amherd’s year as president. And whether Amherd will continue to rule without her close friend in the Federal Council is questionable, confidants say.
Wrestling for the Uvek
What is known is that for a long time the Justice Department was the actual dream department of lawyer Amherd. But meanwhile, they are also interested in the much more important energy and transport division. Before going to the Federal Council, Amherd politicized on the National Council’s Transportation Committee. And, as Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, de Valais could go ahead with the full extension of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, which is so important to her canton.
However, there could be a real power struggle over this important department, which is so important in the current energy debate. If SVP man Rösti is elected, he should also keep an eye on the UVEK, as he is considered a shrewd energy politician.
But will that work? “When the SVP and FDP work together, they have four votes in the seven-member Federal Council and can decide a lot for themselves,” said a citizen. That is of course the goal. Appropriate discussions should take place. “But it is uncertain whether this will actually work.”
Sometimes it’s all about ranking
The departmental distribution has its own laws and dynamics. The board as a whole has to decide. And you pay less attention to the wishes of the party leaders than to whether the next vacancy or an important deal will suddenly be a boomerang if you annoy the Gspänli too much.
And sometimes it’s just about marking the rankings. Newcomers therefore usually have to sit back and settle for the less important departments. So it is quite possible that the new members of the Bundesrat will have to settle for the DDPS and the FDJP. The former would probably go to the SVP and the latter to the SP.
“He’s not going through menopause”
Rather, it is unlikely that the distribution struggle will extend to the economic and foreign departments as well. In any case, SVP Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin (63) should not aim for a new start, since he only moved from Defense to the Economic Department in 2019. “He’s definitely staying. He’s not going through menopause,” jokes one party colleague.
FDP federal councilor Ignazio Cassis (61) must also remain loyal to the foreign ministry. It is said that he still has ambitions in the Europe dossier. Whether that remains the case also depends on whether Berset continues to claim the interior department for itself or not. If he makes a change, the cards are shuffled all over again.