Switzerland has experienced the largest influx of refugees since World War II. This week, the limit of 70,000 applications for protection from Ukraine was reached. Since the beginning of this year, there have also been more than 18,000 asylum seekers, mainly from Afghanistan, Turkey and Eritrea.
The victims of Putin’s extermination campaign have so far received a great deal of sympathy from the Swiss population. The efforts of the cantons and municipalities to offer them decent accommodation are correspondingly great. However, without the disinterested efforts of private individuals, the situation would not be manageable. 45 percent of the 70,000 refugees from Ukraine live with host families.
The fact that this difficult situation does not cause much controversy in public is also thanks to Karin Keller-Sutter. Our asylum minister treats the Ukrainians with passive openness: Swiss reception practice is largely based on that of the EU – and for once guided by humanitarian rather than bureaucratic principles. However, the federal government leaves the actual work to others, preferably the volunteers of course.
With this pragmatism, Keller-Sutter narrows her attack area: the left would like to see Bern more involved, but they are relieved by fundamental goodwill – with many right wingers it is exactly the other way around. And so both sides are holding back with criticism for the time being.
Another benefit is Karin Keller-Sutter’s party book. In middle-class Switzerland, an FDP politician encounters less resistance than someone from the SP, for example. In no area is this more true than emotionally sensitive refugee policy. A left-wing asylum minister is automatically suspected of sentimentality.
Two weeks ago, at that time, it was recalled how violently Simonetta Sommaruga was attacked from the right during her tenure as asylum minister. The SVP and FDP made the Social Democrat almost personally responsible for every refugee. After Sommaruga moved to the Environment and Energy Department at the beginning of 2019 and an FDP federal council member, Keller-Sutter, took over the file, the migration issue disappeared from the agenda – little has changed to this day.
When Sommaruga announced her resignation at the beginning of this month, the journalists’ first comment was: “You are resigning in the middle of an energy crisis. That raises questions.” On the other hand, politicians, political scientists and media professionals take it for granted that Keller-Sutter now wants to move to another department. For example, the “Tages-Anzeiger” writes: “Karin Keller-Sutter could get the rumored wish to to join the finance department of the outgoing Ueli Maurer after she reluctantly took over the Justice Department four years ago.”
No one questions how such a departure could play out amid the current refugee situation. An end to the war against Ukraine is as unlikely as a drop in asylum applications from other countries. Communities are finding it increasingly difficult to provide adequate living space for protection seekers; moreover, there is a lack of support staff. It is also not said how long the positive mood towards the people of Ukraine will last. The SVP has already launched a first initiative in parliament to restrict protection status S. More will follow.
You can imagine the upheaval it would cause if a freshly elected federal councilor of the SVP succeeded Karin Keller-Sutter as chief of justice and police. It is no less easy to imagine what the consequences would be if the new SP federal council were to take over the post. For the right, the temptation would be enormous to make a left-wing asylum minister responsible for every refugee – especially in an election year.
Switzerland has experienced the largest influx of refugees since World War II. What it absolutely does not tolerate are party-politically motivated polemics. It would be important to the internal peace of our country if Keller-Sutter would put aside her personal preferences and remain in her traditional department.